


Distracted by a Dime

by happyaspie



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Homeless, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Exhausted Steve Rogers, Good Friend Ned Leeds, Homeless Peter Parker, Homelessness, Human Disaster Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Nervous Peter Parker, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Peter Parker Has Issues, Peter Parker Needs a Break, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Secrets, Steve Rogers Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Theft, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony stark is trying, Worried Steve Rogers, Worried Tony Stark, found family (eventually)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:53:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29144013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyaspie/pseuds/happyaspie
Summary: Peter Parker thinks he has everything figured out. Where he can eat, sleep and make a little bit of money. What he needs to do in order to continue attending Midtown High and being Queen’s friendly neighborhood Spider-man. How to keep his entire situation under wraps and most importantly,who he can trust.Then, along comes Tony Stark with an offer he can’t refuse. The plan is to remain professional, to not get too close to the Stark-Rogers’ family. Not getting comfortable means not slipping up and saying anything that he can’t take back....but for Peter-things rarely go as planned...
Relationships: Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 256
Kudos: 474





	1. How It Is

**Author's Note:**

> After having this idea and a few random sentences tucked away in my WIPs folder for nearly _a year_ I posted something about it on [Tumblr](https://yes-i-am-happyaspie.tumblr.com/) and all of a sudden I was getting asked all kinds of questions about it. Then me, being the people-pleasing person that I am, took that as all the motivation I needed to pull it back out and dust it off. And let me just tell you how EXCITED I am to share this first chapter with you!!!
> 
> Special thanks to my husband who, despite his lack of interest in fanfiction, in general, talked me through some plot points that were bothering me and gave me some excellent ideas.

When Steve got home and found the living room empty, he sighed and marched his way down to the lab with the intention of dragging his husband out to dinner. The man had been spending an inordinate amount of time working on a self-proclaimed personal project. He could only assume that it had something to do with the Iron Man armor but whatever it was, he was sure it could wait. It was Friday night, they’d not spend any amount of real time together in days and he was _frustrated._

The moment the automatic sliding doors slid open, Steve took a deep breath in advance of the long speech he’d been practicing in his head for the entirety of his walk there. Yet before he could utter a single word, he realized that Tony wasn’t buried knee-deep in any kind of hardware, nor was he manipulating any sort of holographic schematics. He was just sitting there, with his feet kicked up onto a desk watching YouTube. He, once again, opened his mouth to say something but apparently, the huff of annoyance that had come from him realizing that his husband was hiding in his lab to play on the internet, had already gotten the man’s attention. 

“Have you heard about this kid?” Tony asked without ever taking his eyes off of the screen. 

Steve approached slowly and looked carefully at the person in the center of the frame where Tony had paused it. When he thought about it, he was nearly certain he’d heard something about the appearance of a rather unusual vigilante roaming the area but he’d written it off as nothing more than some exaggerated gossip. “How do you know it’s a kid?” he asked because whoever it was, they were covered from head to toe and he couldn’t figure out how anyone could properly estimate someone's age based on nothing more than a body type.

“Because no self-respecting adult would be seen out in public wearing goggles and a bright red and blue sweatsuit with a spider drawn across it. _In Sharpie,_ ” Tony replied, before finally turning to look at his husband. “-also he only seems to be active between the hours of three in the afternoon and eleven on school nights,” he added with a smirk.

The room remained quiet for several seconds as Steve crossed his arms over his chest and surveyed the man in front of him with scrutiny “So what you’re telling me is that you have, admittedly, been stalking a child,” he stated more so than questioned. The evidence was already there. If Tony had figured out the poor kid’s schedule, then there was no telling what else he’d learned in the process. 

“I’m not stalking. I’m interested. Besides, his skill set might come in handy one day. Just look at him,” Tony defended before restarting the video and waving his hand excitedly towards the action. “He just caught a moving car with his bare hands!” he exclaimed once the clip had ended. “Sue me for being intrigued.”

Steve sighed in defeat. Even he couldn't deny that the kid had talent but it sounded like Tony was interested in something more than just analyzing a few videos and that was oddly concerning. “How far do you plan on going with this- _‘interest_ ,’” he cautiously inquired.

“I’ve just about got it narrowed down,” Tony said, pulling up a map with various colored pins and several scattered notes around it. What would look like clutter to anyone else made perfect sense to him and he easily zoomed in on the exact place that he was sure held the last piece of the puzzle. Midtown High School of Science and Technology. “I plan on meeting him.”

For several seconds, Steve just stood there trying to process what he’d just heard. When he was unable to make full sense of it, he sighed and threw his arms up in the air in defeat. “You realize that this is crazy, right?” he asked with mild concern. “That you, tracking down someone who's obviously trying to keep their identity a secret is absolutely _crazy_ \- and probably illegal if he’s really as young as you’re making him out to be.”

“Look, I’m not going to write his name in the newspapers or anything. I just want to talk. Figure out what makes him tick,” Tony said, tapping his finger up against the side of his head. “I want to know what it is that motivates some random, mutant teenager to spend hours at a time playing cops and robbers with the petty thieves of Queens.”

Steve hummed a neutral response and then sighed heavily. “I’m guessing that there's nothing that I could say or do to stop you from pursuing this, is there,” he asked in complete resignation. 

“Sorry, Dear, I’m afraid I’m already locked in,” Tony replied with a sweet smile and a tilt of his head.

“Well, can you at least promise me that you won’t do anything impetuous?” Steve practically begged, even though he knew that it was pointless. When Tony got an idea, he ran with it and there wasn’t a single person in the world that could stop him.

“Sure,” Tony replied as he got up out of his chair and started walking towards the door, pausing to look at his, still, overly concerned husband and wink. “Well, what are you waiting for? I thought you wanted us to go out to dinner tonight?”

__________

  
  


“Hey, Peter where have you been? The bell rang five minutes ago,” Ned hissed as Peter sat down beside him and began to dig through his backpack in search of a sharpened pencil.

“I know,” Peter stained. He could feel everyone’s eyes on him as he continued to struggle with his overly stuffed backpack. It was taking more effort to pull out his notebook without pulling several unwashed t-shirts along with it. “But I didn’t have a place to plug my phone in last night. I was hoping it would last until morning so that my alarm would go off but no such luck,” he said, sighing once he finally had everything he needed piled up on his desk.

“Where did you stay last night?” Ned asked quietly enough to not be heard by anyone around them.

“The shelter on 5th street had a bed, so I stayed there,” Peter simply replied. Thanks to New York’s many _‘Help the Homeless’_ initiatives he had plenty of options when it came to finding a place to sleep at night. It was just a matter of finding a place that didn’t ask too many questions and wasn’t already at capacity by the time he was ready to turn in for the night. 

“Did they feed you too?” Ned asked, knowing that Peter often relied on the school's free breakfast and lunches to get by. He tried to help out when he could but there was only so much his friend would accept before claiming that he had everything under control. 

“Yeah,” Peter returned with a curt nod of his head. “I mean they gave me a sandwich and a bottle of water-” he began to further explain but was unsurprisingly cut off by the boy beside him.

“-We both know you need more than that,” Ned hissed under his breath. It was already obvious that Peter wasn’t taking in enough calories to sustain his enhanced metabolism. His already lean body had grown thin over the last several months and his cheeks were starting to hollow out. “Did you get any breakfast at all?”

Peter closed his eyes and sighed because he knew that Ned wasn’t going to like his answer. “I didn’t have time but it’s okay. I still have a few dollars leftover from when Mr. Delmar paid me to help install the new canopy. I can get some chips from the vending machine between classes” he attempted to placate but really he wasn’t convinced that he was going to stop by the vending machine at all. He only had a handful of dollars left and he needed to put a few of those into adding a few minutes onto his pre-paid phone because he didn’t want to lose the number. He also needed to buy a new can of deodorant and was hoping to have enough coins leftover to wash a load of clothes at the laundromat. He’d been cycling through the same six shirts for two weeks without proper washing. 

After class had ended and everyone was clamoring about packing away their things, Ned handed Peter a granola bar that he’d found in his backpack and smiled. “You want to spend the night at my house tonight? It’s Friday,” he asked with enthusiasm. 

Peter slung his bag over his shoulder and sighed. After sleeping on a cot for the last five nights, the idea of laying on the mattress of his friend's top bunk sounded amazing. More so, the hot shower and full meal that would come along with the offer but still, he hesitated. “Your mom won’t think that’s weird? I stayed all weekend last week,” he wavered because the last thing they needed was for Ned’s mom to get suspicious and start making phone calls.

“You’re my best friend,” Ned reasoned, “We’ve always spent the weekends at each other's houses.”

“Yeah but this is different,” Peter hesitantly replied. “You’ve not spent the night at _‘my house’_ since- everything happened.” 

Ned rolled his eyes and slapped a hand onto the middle of his friend's back. “It’s really that big of a deal, Dude. I told my mom that your Aunt’s apartment is just really tiny and that you prefer to stay with us,” he said with ease. That combined with the fact that Peter had lost both of his parents not even a full year ago had been enough excuse for his mother to not question the change in routine.

“And you’re sure she doesn’t mind?” Peter asked with a heavy sigh. 

“I’m positive,” Ned promised. “She likes you.”

“Fine, I’ll stay,” Peter finally agreed but not without reservation. He didn’t want to out-stay his welcome but he also needed to have time to patrol and maybe scrounge up a few side jobs. He needed a belt, a winter coat, and enough money to eat on the days he wasn’t at school. “But only for one night.” 

“Deal,” Ned returned and then held out his fist in anticipation of their not-so-secret handshake. Peter acquiesced with a smile and then they headed off in separate directions to get to their next classes.

Later that afternoon, rather than going on patrol, Peter went home with Ned. He had to admit that doing something as mundane as riding the subway with his best friend was nice. They spent the entire trip laughing at their own jokes and debating Star Wars fan theories And it felt just like old times when things were simple and everything was so much easier.

“Peter! How are you doing, Sweetheart!” Ned’s mother greeted, the moment the pair walked through the front door. Then she kissed her son on the head and moved towards Peter, placing a hand on either one of his cheeks. 

“I’m okay, Mrs. Leeds,” Peter returned, pulling out of the woman’s grasp the first chance he got. Not because he didn’t appreciate the affection so much as he didn’t want her to detect how prominent his cheekbones had become. He wished he’d not lost so much weight, he desperately missed that kind of parental attention. “Thank you for asking.”

Mrs. Leeds took a step back and looked Peter over with a smile. “And what about your Aunt May? Is she doing okay?” she asked.

“She’s, uh- she’s doing great,” Peter replied. He would have thought that after several months of lying that he would have gotten better at it, but he still managed to stutter his way through the familiar mistruth. There was something about lying to Ned’s mother, in particular, that made him feel guilty. “She’s been really, you know, busy but that’s- that’s not really new or anything.”

“Well, everyone could use some downtime,” Mrs. Leeds casually remarked. “Tell her to give me a call, I’d love to meet her. Maybe we can get some lunch one day between her shifts, hmm?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll, uh, I’ll ask her but- but no promises. She always seems to have something going on,” Peter returned with a forced smile that turned genuine when the woman's face melted into soft concern. 

“But she _is_ taking care of you, right?” Mrs. Leeds softly inquired.

“I’m taken care of,” Peter returned with confidence enough for Ned’s mother to let the subject go and turn her attention towards offering an assortment of after-school snacks, encouraging both boys to eat their fill.

After eating as much as he felt he could reasonably get away with, without causing suspicion and then followed Ned to his bedroom where they sat down and worked on some homework before Peter took off out the window to go on a short patrol before dinner. There wasn’t much to do during the couple of hours that he was out and about but swinging around always felt better after eating a substantial amount of food.

Dinner was amazing, as it always was whenever he stayed with Ned. His friend's parents offered him seconds and thirds before reminding them that there was ice cream in the freezer if they wanted some and Peter felt content. Especially, later that evening as he stood in the shower tilting his head back as the steaming water sprayed against his neck and shoulders. As much as he appreciated the fact that he could use the showers in the boy’s locker room sometimes before school, the water wasn’t nearly as warm. 

Once he’d gotten out he and was dressed in a pair of the pajamas that he always kept at the Leeds’ house, he realized that it was fairly late and decided that he should probably take the time to rinse his clothes out in the bathtub just in case he didn’t make it to the coin laundry the next day. He knew from experience that if he hung them just right, they would be dry by morning and that he could pack them away before his friend’s family had the opportunity to notice.

When he finally had the last shirt, wrung out and draped over the shower curtain rod, Peter sighed tiredly and padded across the hall, where he found Ned sitting on the bottom bunk with no less than three bags of popped popcorn piled high in a large mixing bowl. “Thanks, Ned,” he said quietly, tossing a handful of the buttery kernels into his mouth just as the opening credits for A New Hope began to play. 

The next morning, Peter didn’t stay much past breakfast. He ate a stack of frozen waffles and drank his weight in orange juice, grabbing a cup of yogurt and a spoon to carry down the hall to Ned’s room once he’d rinsed his plate. Part of him wanted to say that he’d changed his mind and wanted to stay for one more night but he knew that wasn't reasonable. He’d already told Mrs. Leeds that his aunt had only given him permission for one night. So he begrudgingly packed up his things, leaving his pajama bottoms there for next time, and stuffed the remainder of his things backpack. Including two bananas, some pre-packaged peanut butter crackers, and four granola bars that Ned insisted his parents would never notice were missing.

With very little debate Peter decided that his first course of action should be to try and find some work. Knowing how much money he was going to have to work with would make prioritizing his other task a little easier. He only really had a few options and most of those didn’t pay much. But some days, if he was lucky, he managed to land an odd-job that earned him a decent amount of cash. As he approached his favorite sandwich shop, he really hoped that it was going to be one of those days. 

“Hey, Mr. Delmer!” he called and waved his hand in a friendly greeting. “Got any chores for me? Anything I can help with?”

The man, who had been wiping down the counters, paused in his actions to look up and smile. “I’m afraid I don’t have anything for you today, Peter,” he said before leaning on the counter with one hand and pointing out the door and to the right with the other. “- but you might want to check with Savion, at the doughnut shop down the way. I heard he was looking for someone to scrub the graffiti off of the side of the building.”

Peter had helped to clean up spray paint several times as Spider-man and knew exactly how hard a job like that could be. It was a substantial task and there was a pretty good chance that he’d be fairly compensated for his time. “Savion at the doughnut shop. Got it,” he optimistically repeated and then started towards the exit with a smile. “Thanks, Mr. Delmar. Have a nice day and give Murph a hug for me!” he shouted just as the door was closing behind him.

The bakery was only a couple of blocks away but there was significantly more hustle and bustle there than there had been by Mr. Delmars’s. So for a few moments, Peter stood outside, watching the steady stream of patrons that were walking in and out of the cozy little shop sending wafts of freshly prepared pasties pleasantly past his nose each time the doors opened.

As soon as there was a break in what had been a constant flow of people, he slipped inside and introduced himself to Savion who seemed nice enough. The man nodded along as he explained that he was trying to make some money to help his aunt with the bills. Peter took that as a good sign and mentioned the graffiti that needed to be cleaned up. He promised that he could get the job done and offered to do it for a competitive price but it seemed that he’d lost his opportunity before he’d even gotten there.

“Sorry, kid. I hired some professionals to come and take care of it this afternoon,” the man said with remorse. “- but I’ll give you a couple of bucks if you want to sweep up in the back room. A bag of flour toppled over this morning and I haven’t had time to get back there and clean it up yet.”

Despite the disappointment that was settling deep in Peter’s stomach, he forced himself to smile. He didn’t want to seem ungrateful. “That'd be great, Thank you, sir,” he said and then followed the man into a large storeroom where he was handed a broom and dustpan. 

With a deep sigh, Peter surveyed the mess. The entire floor was coated in a thin layer of flour and there were several trails of footprints leading out into the main kitchen. Though the biggest part of the mess was the large partially scattered mound near the back of the room. He decided to start there and pulled his shirt up over his nose so that he didn’t inhale the fine powder.

The job itself was tedious but it didn’t take terribly long and once he’d dumped the last of the mess into the trash can and had knocked the dust off of his hands, he went to tell Savion that he was done. The man thanked him and grabbed a five-dollar bill out of the register. It wasn’t much but Peter accepted it graciously and tucked it safely into the front pouch of his backpack.

It wasn’t until he stepped out of the warmly lit shop and into the sunlight that Peter realized that the loose flour had left patches of white residue all over his clothing. He tried to slap some of it away but all that seemed to do was press it further into the stitches and suddenly all of his plans for the weekend were being reorganized. If he put the clothes he was wearing into his bag, the dust would end up all over his other clothes as well. He had no choice. The laundromat was going to have to happen before anything else. 

The rest of the weekend didn’t go much better. He never did find any more work, not even at the arcade that occasionally paid him to take a look at their broken games and by Sunday night his small stack of cash was dwindling. He’d paid for the washer and dryer, he’d bought the minutes he needed for his phone, and that had left very little to fill his stomach once the snacks for Ned’s house had been eaten. 

As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t complain entirely. He had gotten a coat and it hadn’t cost him anything. One of the local churches that often passed out peanut butter sandwiches during the day also had a free clothing ministry. He’d not gone in there often because he didn’t really have a lot of room to carry additional things but the young woman who ran the program recognized him when he walked by and called him inside. She had remembered him asking about winter jackets a few weeks prior and had gone to the trouble of setting a heavy coat for him when several had been donated. It was too big for his small frame but it was warm and he was thankful. More so when the temperature decided to take a sudden nosedive later that evening.

The only shelter that he could find that had space and didn’t require a name also didn’t offer much in the way of heating. The thin walls were enough to block the bitter wind but without the extra layer, he would have spent the night shivering. 

As he lay on the cot, with his backpack clutched protectively against his body, he stared up at the ceiling and blinked back a few tears. His stomach was growling with persistent emptiness, he wasn’t sure whether or not he had enough deodorant to last the week and he still didn’t have a belt. But more than anything else he was painfully lonely. He missed having a family and longed for the nights that his parents would hug him good-night. He wanted a home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really, really hope you like what you've read so far because I can't wait to share more with you! 
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments!


	2. Happy Meal Q&A

“Morning, Sweetheart,” Steve greeted, looking up from his cup of coffee when his husband stumbled into the kitchen unshaved and with his hair all askew.

Already having too many things on his mind, Tony ignored the greeting, ran his hands through his hair, and laughed. “I’ve figured out,” he said with an edge of exhausted hysteria clinging to his voice.

Steve nodded his head and took another slow, steady sip from his mug. “You never came to bed last night,” he calmly assessed. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know but did you hear me? I’ve _finally figured out_ ,” Tony repeated, this time with more enthusiasm before dropping onto one of the tall barstools, tipping his head to the side and grinning at the man across from him. “Mostly figured out, anyway.”

“Fine. I’ll take the bait,” Steve sighed and then took another mug out of the cabinet so that Tony could have some coffee as well. Though he was positive that his husband didn’t need it. He’d already been awake and hyper-fixating in his lab for over twenty-four hours. Yet he knew from experience that humoring the man was more likely to get him to go to bed than nagging him was. “What exactly do you have mostly figured out.”

“Who the kid is,” Tony replied, accepting the mug that had been slid across the counter towards him. 

“Ah,” Steve returned with a nod. He could see the way his husband's eyes were twinkling and leaned back against the cabinets in preparation for whatever spiel was about to follow.

Once Tony had set the mug back down, he sighed contentedly and took his phone out of his pocket so that he could project a few visuals. “I had FRIDAY sift through Midtown’s website, academic servers, and archives to figure out which students matched up with limited information that we have,” he said, and then with a flick of his wrist, a faceless holographic, body model appeared out of thin air. “Male, right-handed, around five feet seven inches tall with a trim build to accommodate the aerial acrobatics. Weight-wise, we’re assuming he’s between one hundred thirty and one hundred forty pounds but with the homemade onesie, it’s hard to tell. We’ve narrowed the field down to eleven, all between the ages of fifteen and eighteen.“

Steve crossed his arms over his chest and glanced at the bright young faces that had replaced the space where the characterless figure had been. “Okay, so what’s your plan?” he asked with a sigh. “Are you just going to waltz into the school, track down and corner a bunch of high schoolers and then demand that they tell you which one of them is the spider-kid from YouTube? 

“No, of course not, Dear,” Tony scoffed. “What I’m going to do is wait outside of the school, allow FRIDAY to use facial identification to point me in the right direction, and then talk to them, one at a time, so that I can get a voice recognition sample,” he said as if that were the most obvious thing in the world and then gave a thoughtful look. “Whoever this Spiderling is, he’s a chatty little guy, and if I can run a tone and inflection comparison that should be enough for me to be able to identify him.”

For more than a few seconds, Steve blinked back at his husband while his brain provided him every possible way that a plan of that nature could go terribly wrong. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep, cleansing breath in through his nose. “Just- please don’t get arrested. It’s Monday and I have a lot going on. I’d rather not have to add ‘bail my husband out of jail’ to the list,” he pleaded.

“Oh, ye of little faith,” Tony chuckled. “I happen to have excellent people skills and a top-notch legal team. I’ll be fine,” he elaborated and then, hopped up to kiss his husband gently on the lips. “Thanks for worrying though. I love you too,” he said and then disappeared down the hall, towards the bedroom to take a nap.

__________

  
  


“Are you okay, Peter?” Ned asked as his friend walked dazedly beside him. He wasn’t used to him being so quiet and when he had to nudge him on the shoulder to get an acknowledgment, it was worrisome. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m just hungry,” Peter replied with a shake of his head. His dinner had hardly been filling and he’d not had anything to eat since. He was hungry to the point that he was already trying to work out a way to convince the school cafeteria workers to allow him to have an extra serving at breakfast. Just the thought of food had his mouth-watering. “I hope they have the little chicken biscuits in the cafeteria this morning. Those are pretty good.”

“I could buy you an actually good biscuit, if you want,” Ned hesitantly offered. He wanted to help. He always wanted to help but some days Peter seemed to have a harder time accepting it than others. He was worried it was going to be one of those days. “You know it’s Monday. My dad gave me my allowance this morning.”

“I can’t let you do that, Man,” Peter replied without missing a beat. He was starting to worry that he was relying too much on Ned and his parents and he was acutely aware of how quickly he could lose that kind of support. Anything could happen and he needed to be able to take care of himself. There was no Plan C. That thought sent a frisson of anxiety up the back of his neck. “That’s your money and besides, you bought me toothpaste and a new toothbrush last week,” he reasoned.

“Yeah, from the dollar store,” Ned returned with a roll of his eyes and scanned the area for the closest fast food place. No matter what Peter said, he couldn’t stop him from ordering the food and there was no way he’d let it go to waste. “Now, come on, Dude. I want a biscuit too,” he said, taking his friend by the elbow and dragging him across the street before he had time to protest. 

Between the breakfast that Ned had forced on him and the one that the school provided him, Peter was able to sit down in his first-period class without the distraction of an empty stomach. Even the teacher had commented on his unusually high level of attentiveness, a remark that had made him blush and clam up for the rest of the lesson. However, by the end of the day, his enhanced metabolism had long since burned through that, his lunch and bag of chips that he’d given in and spent his last dollar on. Before the last bell had rung for the day, he'd already decided that he was going to have to cut his patrol short in order to, once again, go around and try to find some work to do. 

“Do you want to come over and do homework together?” Ned asked, pulling Peter from his thoughts. “There’ll be snacks.”

“Sorry man, not today.,” Peter replied with a sigh. “I think I’m just going to go- out for a while and take care of my homework tonight.”

Ned gave his friend a calculating look and tugged the straps of his backpack together as he searched for the right words. “You know, you can always stop by if you change your mind, right?” 

“Yeah, Ned. I know,” Peter returned, making a point to avoid eye-contact. He didn’t like it when people worried about him. It made him feel squirmy and uncomfortable like he was causing a problem that he didn’t quite know how to fix.

Ned nodded his head and they went through their handshake before parting ways. Ned headed towards one end of the school while Peter climbed down the front steps. He just made it halfway to the sidewalk when his spider-sense began to quietly hum in the back of his head causing him to pause mid-step in order to take in his surroundings. 

It only took a moment for him to realize what was amiss. Standing there amid the sea of scattered teenagers was a man that despite sunglasses and baseball cap, he instantly recognized as Tony Stark. His eyes grew wide as his brain immediately began to misfire. He couldn’t fathom what the billionaire, genius, philanthropist, superhero would be doing outside of his school and he didn’t even have the chance to try before he realized that the man was looking right at him.

As their eyes met, Peter’s heart went from fluttering entirely too quickly to a dead stop. His vision blanked for a second before his fight or flight instinct finally decided to kick in and he took off running, never chancing a look behind, not even when he heard the man shouting for him to stop. He just kept running until he found himself knocking rapidly on the Leed’s front door.

“Tony Stark knows who you are!” Ned squawked once his friend had calmed down enough to relay what had happened.

“I don’t know what he knows and that’s the problem!” Peter strained, bringing his hands up to his hair to tug at it. He had a laundry list of things that he wouldn’t want anyone to discover, let alone Tony Stark.

“Do you think he figured out that you’re Spider-man?” Ned excitedly inquired.

“I mean, I guess maybe,” Peter returned but with far less enthusiasm than his friend had. He was still stressing out over what other kinds of classified information that could have been uncovered by the world-renowned genius. “But, like, what else did he figure out! Ned, what am I going to do if he’s figured everything out?” he nearly shouted when it looked like his friend wasn’t nearly as worried as he was.

“Peter,” Ned said firmly, essentially pulling his friend out of the beginnings of a panic attack. “We covered all of our bases and even if he did figure it all out, why would care?”

“I don’t know. He’s Iron Man and-” Peter began.

“-and is probably only interested in Spider-man,” Ned hurriedly interjected. “Not Peter Parker.” 

“Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re probably right,” Peter returned, blowing a deep breath out through his mouth and taking a few seconds to further calm himself. “Why would he care about some random kid from Queens?”

“Exactly,” Ned agreed with a small, yet growing smile. “If you see him again, you should totally talk to him. Maybe he’ll make you an Avenger or give you some really cool tech or something!”

“Maybe,” Peter dubiously returned. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens. It could have been a mistake and I’ll never see him again,” he said, and as cool as it would be to sit down and talk to Tony Stark, himself, he hoped that he didn’t have to. 

“But if you do-” Ned began to reiterate.

“-Then I’ll talk to him,” Peter confirmed, followed by a handshake and an afternoon of making smoothies and studying for their upcoming history test. 

_____________

  
  


When Steve finally got home for the evening, he didn’t even bother going up to the penthouse. He already knew that his husband would be spending an extraordinary amount of time in the lab until he figured out who the young vigilante was, so that’s where he went. “Is that your Crime Fighting Spider?” he asked when he walked in to see the face of a younger teenaged boy being projected across the room.

“Yep,” Tony returned, from where he was leaned back in a chair, with his feet kicked up, staring at the image in front of him.

“Did he tell you that?” Steve asked next because he’d assumed that the process of elimination would take a bit longer than one afternoon. 

“Nope,” Tony replied, flicking his eyes towards his husband but only for a second before they fell back on the photo. “He ran from me.”

Steve had to bring a hand up to his mouth to stifle an amused laugh, looking away and clearing his throat as Tony glared at him. “Then how do you know that’s him?” he asked as he crossed the distance between them so that he could get a better look at the kid’s face. “-and I thought you were looking at highschoolers. That kid can’t be more than twelve,” he exclaimed, gesturing towards the image. “He still has baby fat.”

“He turned fifteen a few months ago,” Tony corrected with a roll of his eyes. Though even he could admit that the aspiring hero was a little on the young side. “But, yeah, I was surprised too. I thought sure it would have been one of the seventeen, eighteen-year-olds on the list but that’s definitely him.”

“Who is he?” Steve asked with more curiosity than he ever admitted but knowing that there was a literal child running around the city catching pick-pockets and stopping car chases with his bare hands was intriguing. 

“Peter Parker, grade nine, attends Midtown on an academic scholarship. He’s a straight-A student who excels in chemistry and is active in several clubs including, Academic Decathlon, Mathletes, robotics, and the marching band,” Tony listed off, sounding more than a little impressed.

Smiling at the way his husband was smiling, Steve nodded his head. “Sounds like a pretty smart kid,” he conjectured when the room fell quiet again. “What about his parents.”

“From what I could piece together, it looks like his parents died about nine months ago during an in-home invasion,” Tony thoughtfully replied. “The kid wasn’t there when it happened. He was with a friend and stayed there until after the funeral, at which point he went to go live with his aunt, May Parker, and has been in her custody since then.”

“So, what’s next?” Steve asked, knowing that having a positive identity wasn’t going to be enough. He was sure that his husband wasn’t going to be satisfied until he had a chance to actually talk to the boy.

“I’m going to try again tomorrow,” Tony said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“And if he tries to run again?” Steve questioned. 

Tony leaned back in his seat and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before turning his head back towards Steve. “If he runs, then I’ll figure something else out,” he said, then waved his hand to clear all of the holograms and got up to follow his husband up to the penthouse.

__________

In the time between talking to Ned and the end of the next school day, Peter had already thoroughly convinced himself that maybe the man he’d seen outside of the school hadn’t been Tony Stark at all. That it had been some random person who happened to look like Tony Stark and that the only reason they had called after him was, that and making eye-contact with someone and then running away full speed wasn’t exactly subtle behavior. They probably thought he was up to something and that made much more sense than Tony Stark being interested in him, in any capacity. 

Nonetheless, he was cautious as he exited the school. He stood at the top of the steps and inspected the area. He was keenly aware that his spider-sense was buzzing quietly in the background but he didn’t see anything that should have triggered it. However, he made no move to descend the stairs until the majority of the crowd had cleared. 

He remained on high alert as he took each step one at a time, slowly making his way to the sidewalk. Once he was there he thought he was home free but then his senses flared as looked down the road and saw Tony standing there, leaning against an overly-polished, luxury sports car. The man looked him over, all cool and assessing before taking a few cautious steps towards where he was standing.

“You’re Peter Parker,” Tony stated more so than questioned. FRIDAY, with the help of school’s surveillance, had already pinpointed the teenager's whereabouts before he’d ever made an appearance. 

“Yes, sir,” Peter returned, trying to sound as confident and possible in the hero’s presence but his tongue quickly failed him and he stumbled over his next words. “Why, uh, why- why do you know that?” he asked, swallowing hard as awaited the answer.

“I have my reasons but this is definitely not the place to talk about it,” Tony said, side-eyeing the few lingering students that were still milling about near the campus. “Come with me. I’ll buy you a Happy Meal or something,” he proposed, already opening the passenger side door. Though the moment he placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder he amended his offer. He could feel the kid’s collar bone pressing through the oversized coat he was wearing. “On second thought, maybe I’ll buy you two Happy Meals.”

Peter’s eye-brows went up at the offer. While he didn’t actually believe that he was in any danger, he did find it oddly amusing by how confident the man was that he’d climb into his care without question. “Are you trying to kidnap me, Mr. Stark?” he asked with a half-cocked grin.

“I’m Iron Man. I don’t exactly have a history of abducting children,” Tony replied with a roll of his eyes and then gestured again towards the open door “Just get in the car, Kid.”

A short ride later, the pair was sitting in the very back of a nearly empty McDonald’s. Peter was munching on the promised Happy Meals, taking care to not eat the unexpected additional meal with too much vigor while Tony concentrated on whatever he was doing on his phone. It was quiet between them for a while but the moment he’d finished his cheeseburgers and had started working his way through the two small fries, the man was setting his phone on the table between them. 

“Quick question of the rhetorical variety,” Tony lazily started before tapping the screen, bringing a projection of a YouTube video up between them. “That’s you, isn’t it?” he asked.

Peter froze. Ned had been right, the man had figured out his secret identity and he really wasn’t sure how he felt about that just yet. “No. Why-why would you-” he began to question.

“-Yeah it is,” Tony countered with a smile and then turned his eyes back towards the video of Spider-man swinging into an intersection and catching an out-of-control car. “Look at you go. Three-thousand pounds at forty miles per hour and you made it look easy.”

"Yeah, but that- that's YouTube though, right?” Peter tried to argue but it only seemed to amuse the man further. “It’s probably fake. People make stuff like that all the time, you know, on their computers. Like those UFOs over New Mexico.”

“Uh-huh,” Tony placatingly agreed, as he shoved his phone back into his pocket and crossed his arms over his chest. “So what do you call yourself? The Spider- _ling_? The Crime Fighting Spider? Spider-Boy?“

Knowing he’d been beaten, Peter dropped the french fries he’d been holding and looked out the window. “Spider-man,” he grumbled under his breath, feeling all too aware of the couple who had just walked into the restaurant.

“Not in that get-up, you’re not,” Tony laughed. “What is that thing? Underoos? A onesie?”

“It’s not- it’s not a onesie,” Peter nearly whined because it was a sweatsuit. There were multiple pieces involved. Not underoos and definitely not a onesie. 

Tony smirked and gave a quick nod of his head before growing more serious. “Who else knows about this?” 

“My best friend.” Peter replied before turning at least some of his attention back to the rapidly cooling fries. “-but that’s it,”

“What about your aunt?” Tony challenged, assuming that the kid’s guardian was aware of his extra, extra-curricular activities, and was slightly startled when the boy gasped at the question and then began to choke.

“She doesn’t need to know!” Peter finally managed to get out despite the fact that he’d inhaled a small piece of potato. Tony popped the straw into the juice box that he’d yet to open and slid it across the table while he continued to cough. He sucked it down and once he was finally able to speak clearly again he attempted to give some kind of an explanation. “She’d freak out and when she freaks out I freak out and-” 

“-What about the webs? Those are pretty cool,” Tony cut in, literally waving away the previous inquiry. He had more questions to ask and figured they would have plenty of time to swing back to that later. “The tensile strength is off the charts, like nothing I've ever seen. Where did you get that?”

“I made it,” Peter replied, slightly thrown off by the abrupt change in subject. 

“And the wall-crawling? How are you doing that?” Tony asked next.

Peter looked at the man for several seconds, trying to gauge the purpose of his interest before answering. “It’s kind of a long story but I just sort of- stick to things.”

“That’s all you? No special gloves or anything?” Tony further inquired and when the kid shook his head he brought his brows together in thought. “So you’re a mutant”

“Enhanced is probably more accurate” Peter hesitantly replied and it did not go unmissed when the man briefly raised an eye-brow at the clarification. 

Tony took a moment to allow those words to sink it. It was obvious that the kid had super-strength but when he’d realized that the webs were synthetic he'd assumed that the majority of his other abilities were too. But now that he knew that wasn’t the case, he was more curious than ever. “What else can you do?”

“Well, I have crazy fast reflexes and when whatever happened, happened- It was like my senses were dialed up to eleven. To the point that sometimes it’s- it’s hard to focus,” Peter explained, expecting more questions to follow, but they didn’t. Instead, the man was folding his hands on the table in a very business-like manner.

“-You need an upgrade. Top to bottom. No holding back and I can do that for you,” Tony declared and Peter was taken completely off guard by the sudden offer.

“Sir, I-” he sputtered in response but it was as if the man didn’t even notice.

“Why do you do what you do? What’s your motivation?” Tony pressed, eager to get to the root of what would lead a teenager, especially such a young teenager to decide to take on a vigilante alter-ego. 

“Well, I- I guess-” Peter replied, wracking his brain for the rods that he would need to properly answer that question. “because I’ve been me my whole life and I’ve had these powers for almost a year. I read a lot of books and I can fix arcade machines and, yeah, I would love to play sports but I couldn’t then, so I shouldn’t now.”

“Right. Because you’re different,” Tony nodded along.

“Yeah but I can’t tell anyone,” Peter quietly agreed and then took a steadying breath. “Look, it’s just that- when you can do the things that I can but you don’t and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.”

“So you want to look out for the little guy, make the world a better place, or what have you- is that it?” Tony moved to interpret.

Peter furiously nodded his head and placed his hands in his lap, nervously twisting and untwisting a napkin below the table. “Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The little guy. That’s- that’s it.”

Satisfied with that answer, Tony smiled and urged the kid to finish up the food that was still spread out across the greasy hamburger wrappers. “Have you ever worked with holographic designs?” he asked. “Used an AI assistant?”

“Uh- no?” Peter nervously returned because he had no idea where those questions were heading. 

“Oh, you’re going to love it,” Tony insisted. “Come with me back to my lab,”

“I- I can’t do that,” Peter stammered. 

Tony smiled and leaned back in the booth. “Why not?” he asked, chuckling lightly.

Unwilling to say ‘because I really need to make some money today so that I can survive,’ Peter spat out the first excuse that came to mind, though he regretted it nearly instantly. “I- I’ve got homework,” he stated, cringing at his own awkwardness.

For a moment, Tony had allowed himself to forget exactly how young the kid sitting across from him was and had to work really hard not to roll his eyes. “I’m going to pretend that you didn’t say that,” he blandly replied. “Look, just come back to my lab with me. I’ll tell your Aunt that I-” he began with the intention of making up an excuse for the kid to be visiting Stark Tower but was interrupted by the kid jumping out of his seat and staring at him with wide-eyed horror.

“-You can’t tell Aunt May!” Peter shouted with more passion than he’d meant to but he caught himself quickly and attempted to back-track. “I mean, it’s fine. You don’t- you don’t need to talk to her. It’s probably best if she thinks I’m with Ned or something. Less, uh, less questions.”

“Alright, Spider-man,” Tony placated and then tipped his chin towards the unfinished drink “Just finish your juice box so that we can get going. We’ve got things to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **And now they've met! How do you think that the first lab visit is going to go? Good, I hope. I mean, every eccentric genius needs a protege- right? 😉**


	3. Robin Hood Justifications

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tw: body image 
> 
> In this chapter, Peter looks at himself and is a little unhappy about the way his body looks. He's sensitive about it and when Tony mentions it, in passing, it makes him momentarily defensive. The entire situation is **extremely brief and not really detailed** but I wanted anyone who might be upset by the subject matter to be aware.

During the ride to the Avenger’s Tower, Peter's stomach was in knots. Being invited to spend any amount of time in Tony Stark’s personal lab was beyond his wildest dreams but there was also a small part of him that was terrified to spend too much time with the man. The more familiar they became, the more likely he was to slip up and say something that he couldn’t take back. Or recover from. Then it occurred to him that, for all he knew, the invitation was a one-time thing. He was just starting to consider whether or not that would be disappointing when all of sudden there were fingers snapping in front of his face.

“Hey, Kid. Earth to Pete,” Tony said, once he’d parked the car and the teenager had continued to sit there staring off into space. “We’re here. You with me?”

“Oh,” Peter finally uttered, shaking his head and turning to meet eyes with the man beside him. “I’m sorry, Mr. Stark. I guess I got distracted,” he offered, though distracted wasn’t really the right word. What he was doing was over-thinking and had spaced out in the process.

Tony rolled his eyes and gave the boy a crooked smile. “Does that happen a lot?”

“No, sir,” Peter replied without missing a beat. “I was just thinking about- things.”

“Well, don’t hurt yourself, Kid,” Tony teased, taking off his seatbelt and throwing his door open so that he could climb out, beckoning for the teenager to do the same once he was out of the car. “Come on, follow me.”

The inside of Tony’s lab was more amazing than Peter had ever imagined it would be. There were so many machines spread out across the room that he couldn’t even name them all and the large console that sat in the middle of it all looked like something out of a science-fiction film. The entire room was flushed with a soft blue glow, and everything in it looked like it cost a fortune. All the way down to the shiny black tile floor. To the point that during the tour, he’d wound up placing his hands in his pockets out of instinct alone, not wanting to accidentally touch and, in turn, break anything.

Eventually, they made it all the way around the sprawling workshop and back towards the front where several workbenches lined up, all of them in various states of disarray. Peter was asked to wait behind the least cluttered one while Tony disappeared across the room, returning with a secure metal case in his hands.

“Woah! Is that for me?” Peter exclaimed in awe after the man had unlocked and opened the case to reveal what was, undoubtedly, a suit that had been put together for Spider-man. The color scheme matched the one he’d created for himself but it was the intricate web pattern and the sleek spider emblem in the middle that really gave it. The entire aesthetic was nothing short of incredible and if the casing was anything to go by, it was probably full of cutting-edge technology as well. 

“This,” Tony said, picking up the suit and turning it his hands so that the vigilante he’d made it for could see it from all angles. “Is a proto-type. A Mark One, if you will- Well, a Mark Two if we count the hot mess you threw together in Home Ec.” he explained with a smile. “Anyway, you’ll need to try it on, then we can make whatever adjustments need to be made. Including finishing up the mechanics of a lower profile version of those web-shooters you use.”

There were any number of intelligent comments and questions going through Peter’s head as he continued to gawk at the new suit but he was entirely too enamored to get any of them out of his mouth. “Awesome,” he finally whispered, mostly to himself but still made no move to actually touch the material.

After standing there, doing nothing but holding up a suit for a few seconds too long, Tony huffed. “Well, don’t just stare at it, go put it on,” he said and then tossed it towards the kid, who adeptly caught it with one hand. “Bathroom’s over there.”

Still smiling with giddy excitement, Peter walked in the direction that the man was pointing. Once he was behind the door, he changed into the spider-suit, carefully folded his clothes and set them aside before stepping back to admire himself in the mirror. He ran his hands over his side and turned to look at his profile. He didn’t like the way the skin-tight design accentuated his already protruding ribs but there was no denying that the more sophisticated look made him appear far more mature and experienced. He hoped it would help encourage people to take him more seriously. Like an Avenger.

When Peter finally emerged from the bathroom, sans mask, Tony looked him over, his eyes momentarily pausing on the places where the teenager’s ribs and hip bones jutted out at sharp angles. “You’re a bit thinner than I anticipated. It’s a good thing I went with the automatic form-fitting compression mechanism,” he mused without any real thought. “Does your aunt not feed you?”

“I eat!” Peter snapped back, feeling unexpectedly defensive at the implications. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was concerned that the man was concerned or if it was because he’d already been feeling slightly self-conscious about the way his body looked at the moment. Whatever the reason, he couldn’t seem to extinguish the little spark of irritation that had ignited with the comment, and he found himself glaring. 

“Calm down, Underoos,” Tony chuckled, not really understanding exactly how much stress his remark had caused. “I wasn’t actually accusing anyone of anything. I’m assuming you have an enhanced metabolism to go along with all of your other cool tricks,” he smoothly segued in an attempt to cut through the mild tension. 

Peter paused at the assessment. He had, of course, noticed an increase in appetite post spider bite but he’d never really attempted to attribute it to anything. Much more pressing issues had arisen shortly after gaining his powers. Processing and subsequently mitigating the effects of said issues had been his sole focus. “I never really thought about it,” he admitted with a blush because that felt like something he definitely should have already considered. 

Tony hummed in response and casually removed the mask from the teenager’s grasp. “We should probably add that to our to-do list. Having an accurate metabolic rate on you would probably be a good idea.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Peter agreed, flinching just slightly as the cloth mask was pulled over his head without warning. 

“But for the time being,” Tony said, pausing for a second while he waited for the kid to adjust to the change in his vision, “- let me introduce you to your HUD and onboard AI.”

As Tony began to speak, Peter tried really hard to focus but it was difficult when every time he moved his head a new label popped up, identifying the larger objects in the room as well as the man himself. He heard something about an automatic targeting system and the possibility of multiple web settings but it was all a lot to take in at once. Eventually, he stopped the man in his ramblings to ask about lessening the sensory input and learned that he could make adjustments on his own by giving his AI directions. He took a few moments to make a few changes to the optics in order to make them less overwhelming and with that taken care of it was much easier to focus.

It took a while to go over everything that had already been implemented but the conversation soon turned to brainstorming as Peter explained the extent of his abilities and aspirations, making clear what sort of protocols and features would be the most helpful. Tony nodded along, taking notes and throwing in a few ideas of his own as they spoke. Then at some point, Tony glanced down at his phone and excused himself from the room, telling Peter that he could go ahead and change back into his civilian clothes.

Peter did as he was asked and then walked out of the bathroom with the suit neatly folded in his arms. However, on his way back to the front of the room something on the edge of the man’s desk caught his attention. It seemed that Tony had emptied his pockets at some point while they were there and sitting right out in the open was his wallet and keys along with a crumpled up ten dollar bill and a Starbucks gift card. His first instinct was to look and see how much more cash was inside of the thick leather wallet and whether or not he could get away with taking some of it. Unmistakable shame washed over him at the mere notion but that didn’t stop the conflicting thoughts that were still streaming through his head.

He was Spider-man and fought against people who were caught stealing on a daily basis. The people of Queens viewed him as a good guy, a vigilante with a strong moral compass. By taking something that wasn’t his he was essentially going against everything he stood for. But at the same time, he was hungry and struggling to buy even the simplest of hygiene products. Technically, he needed the money to survive. 

It also crossed his mind that Tony is a billionaire who had an excess of everything whether he needed it or not. The lab he was standing in was testament enough of that and he was sure that even if he took every single bit of cash out of the man’s wallet, it wouldn’t even begin to put a dent in his wealth. It would be like Robin Hood taking from the rich to give to the poor. Yet it still felt wrong.

With a frustrated grunt, Peter glanced towards the door to make sure that Tony wasn’t about to come walking through it as he wrestled with himself. Then feeling as though he was running out of time to make a decision, he settled on what he hoped his conscience would see as a compromise. He didn’t touch the man’s wallet but he did grab ten and with very little debate the gift card as well, justifying the move by telling himself that Tony didn't even need a gift card when he had a bank account that was brimming with funds. He just hoped that there wasn’t a ludicrous amount of money loaded onto it.

With both items having been stuffed into his pocket he darted back across the room towards the workbench that they’d been using all afternoon. He’d just settled into the swivel chair behind it, when the glass doors slid open, and in walked Tony with Captain America close behind him. Then as the two men walked toward him, the latter with his hand extended in greeting, he could feel the money in his pocket begin to burn into his thigh.

“Hey, Pete. This is my husband, the lovely Steve Rogers but I’m guessing by the look on your face that you already knew that,” Tony announced, smirking at the way the kid was looking owlishly between them. “He wanted to meet Queens' favorite spider-themed mini-hero.”

“Hi there, Peter. It’s very nice to meet you,” Steve said, taking the teenager by the hand and giving it a firm squeeze. 

“It’s- it’s nice to meet you too, sir,” Peter stammered in return. Obviously, he knew that Tony was married to Steve Rogers. Everyone knew that but for some reason it had never crossed his mind that he’d have the opportunity to meet the other man. He just wished it had happened under more ideal circumstances. Like, when he didn’t have a pocket full of lifted items. “I’m, uh, I’m a big fan. I used to have a poster of you hung up in my room,” he stupidly rambled, anything to cover up the panic that was screaming in his ears. 

“Is that so,” Steve laughed, pulling back his hand and smiling triumphantly towards his husband. 

“He said, ‘used to,’ Dear. As in ‘not anymore,’” Tony said, rolling his eyes and then glancing towards where Peter was still frozen in place. “Right, Kid? You replaced that old thing with an Iron Man poster, didn’t you,” he stated before once again turning his attention to his grinning husband. “I’m way more popular with the teenage demographic than you are. At least that’s what Buzzfeed would lead me to believe. Tell him, Pete.”

There was a deafening silence that lasted several seconds while Peter floundered with what exactly he was supposed to be saying. He was sure that Tony was asking him to take his side and he wanted to, he really did but at the moment, his conscience wasn’t going to allow him to add frivolous lying to his lists of transgressions. “A-actually, I um, I don’t have any posters at all anymore.”

“Well, we’re going to have to fix that,” Tony replied, teasing smile and a flippant wave of his hand.

“You really don’t have to do that, sir,” Peter hurriedly exclaimed, wincing at the amount of horror that had crept into his tone. 

Tony raised an eyebrow and reached out to grab the boy by the shoulder, patting it gently. “I was just messing with you, Kid. Relax about it,” he said and Peter was just about to apologize for overreacting when Steve asked him if he wanted to stay for dinner. It sounded fantastic with promises of super-soldier-sized portions of spaghetti and meatballs but he immediately moved to decline.

“Is it that late already” he questioned, even though was very cognizant of the time. The windows had since grown dark and his stomach was growling. He just wasn’t sure how much longer he could be in the same room as the heroes with his head exploding from anxious self-reproach. “I should probably go. I’m sure Aunt May’s waiting for me but thank you, Mr. Stark. For the cheeseburgers earlier and, you know, the suit and stuff,” he said as he backed his way towards the doors.

“Slow down, kid. Let me drive you home,” Tony said, already turning towards his desk, where he’d left his keys but before he could take a single step the kid was balking at the offer.

Peter held up his hands and glanced over his shoulder towards the elevator. “No, no. It’s fine. I can take the bus. It’s not far from here. I’m good, Mr. Stark, really,” Peter promised, praying that the man would just let him walk out on his own. 

“You’re good?” Tony dubiously inquired. Not because he thought the kid necessarily needed a ride home so much as it sounded like he was in a hurry to get there and a car seemed like the more efficient way to go. “You sure?”

“Yes, sir. I’m sure,” Peter replied, breathing a little easier once Tony had changed his direction and was walking towards him rather than his desk. Then, together they crossed towards the elevator, where the man rode with him down to the lobby.

“Alright, Skeedattle there, Young Buck, and try to stay out of trouble,” Tony said as he held open the front door. Though, when Peter didn’t exit right away, he looked down to see him chewing nervously on his lip. “What’s up, kid?”

“I was, uh, I was just wondering when- when do you think the suit will be ready?” Peter asked because he’d not been given any indication of how long it would take for Tony to do all of the things he said he wanted to do or how he would be receiving the suit once it was completed. Thankfully, the man hadn’t asked him for an address but he’d not asked him for a phone number, an email or anything of that nature either and he really didn’t want Tony Stark spontaneously showing up outside of his school to whisk him away to become a thing. Someone was bound to notice at some point and that could lead to all kinds of questions he didn’t want to answer. “I mean, are you going to call me or-”

“-I’ll be in touch,” Tony assured with a nod of his head.

“Do you have my number?” Peter asked before he could stop himself and was met with a self-assured quirk of the man’s brow. He’d never really considered how much information Tony had actually collected on him but he probably should have assumed that he’d broken into his school records, thus giving him all of the contact information he could possibly want. He just hoped that he didn’t try to show up at the listed address. “Right. Of Course,” he said with a faint smile and then stepped out into the cool night air and turned to wave. “Bye Mr. Stark! It was nice to meet you!”

The moment he was out of sight, Peter ducking into an alley, pressed his back against the bricks and took several deep breaths before reaching into his pocket. He wrapped his fingers around the card and that money and squeezed his eyes shut. “Holy crap. Holy crap. Holy crap. I just stole money from Iron Man and Captain America,” he whispered to himself but as he transferred the items from his fist to his backpack the majority of his unease melted and he could practically taste the blueberry muffin he was planning on getting on the way to school the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **So, did that go about the way you expected it to go?**


	4. Nothing to Worry About

“Sam's birthday is tomorrow. Did you remember to get the gift card I asked you to pick up?" Steve said as he served himself a large portion of pasta.

_“Yes, I remembered to get the gift card you asked me to pick up_ ,” Tony mocked, standing up just enough to reach into his pocket, only to find it empty. It wasn’t unusual for him to take everything out of his pockets when he went into the lab but it wasn’t like him to forget to pick it back up when he was done. Then again he’d never ended a lab session by escorting an antsy teenager to the lobby before. He supposed it made sense that something like that would upset his routine. “Huh, I must have left it in the lab. I’ll go get it after we eat,” he said before sitting back down and focusing on his plate.

As they began to eat, Steve looked across the table and smiled. “So how was it? Spending time with Spider Junior, I mean,” he asked knowing that his husband rarely worked side by side with trained adults. Let alone a child and he was eager to hear how that had gone over. “He seems like a nice kid,” he added as an afterthought. Because other than being a bit twitchy and nervous, the kid had been polite and anyone who was willing to go out of their way to help others had to be fairly kind, to begin with. 

With a bright smile, Tony shook his head and took a sip of the wine he’d poured for himself. “First of all, and you're going to love this, he calls himself Spider-man. The kid hasn’t even gone through puberty yet. Though I suppose he’ll grow into it eventually” he chuckled, as he thought about the awkwardly lanky he’d spent a good portion of his afternoon with. “Second of all, he is a nice kid. A little unfocused sometimes and kind of all over the place in general but he’s extremely intelligent.”

Steve smiled back and nodded his head. “Huh, sounds like someone else I know,” he teased, laughing when Tony simply rolled his eyes. “Will he be back?”

“That’s the plan. Now that I know more about him, I can tailor the suit to his decidedly unique needs,” Tony eagerly replied. He’d surprised even himself by enjoying the afternoon in the company of a teenage boy. But the kid was smart, easy to get along with, and for some unknown reason he found all of his quirks and nervous habits endearing. “I want to have him test out the more complicated features in a controlled lab setting before I unleash him and his new toys lose on the people of New York.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Steve agreed before pressing for more. “-and after that?”

Rather than answer right away, Tony picked up his fork and began to twirl some pasta around it, and once he was satisfied with the neat little bundle he'd created he brought it halfway to his mouth. “I haven’t decided,” he finally replied and then finished bringing the food to his mouth.

  
  


Later that evening after he and Steve had cleaned up the kitchen together, Tony went back down into his lab to retrieve the requested gift card, grumbling under his breath the whole time about how a _gift card_ was just about the lamest gift they could possibly give anyone. But Steve had insisted that it was all Sam wanted and after having every single one of his suggestions shot down, he'd given in with the intention of sighing the package with a note that read _'Blame Steve I wanted to buy you a new car_.' 

As he walked over to his desk and found his wallet and the keys he’d used that day laying at the edge but the card anywhere.  “FRIDAY? Do you know where I put that Starbucks gift card earlier?” he asked once he’d double-checked all of his pockets and looked inside of his wallet to make sure that he’d not inadvertently tucked it inside.

“Of course, Boss,” The AI readily replied. “You set the gift card, along with several other items, on your desk at three fifty-nine in the afternoon.”

“Okay,” Tony drew out in mild annoyance because the card was obviously no longer there. He’d looked on and around the whole area. “Mind telling me where it is now?”

There were a few seconds of silence before a holographic image of Peter standing by the desk popped up in front of him. “Mr. Parker placed the gift card as well as a ten-dollar bill into his pocket approximately one hour and twenty-two minutes ago,” FRIDAY explained as the surveillance footage began to play.

Tony watched with interest as Peter stood there with the spider suit tucked under his arm, staring at the desk. Even without any audio, it was obvious that the teenager was conflicted. His hand reached out several times to hover over each of the items before retracting again and according to the timestamp that went on for a good four and a half minutes before the kid finally snatched the money and card without ever even looking inside of the wallet. “Interesting,” he murmured to himself as he contemplated what could have possibly been going through the kid's head and then glanced up towards the ceiling. “Why wasn’t I notified of this.” 

“You gave Mr. Parker access to your lab as well as everything in it when you arrived this afternoon. Without any qualifiers that privilege was extended to the personal items in the area as well,” The AI explained. “Would you like to update that directive?”

After some thought, Tony brought his lips together into a thin straight line and shook his head. “Nah. Just give me a heads up if anything like that happens again,” he said because while he was surprised that the kid, who spent an awful lot of his time, stopping people from stealing had walked off with his money, he wasn’t angry. If anything he was ever so slightly amused. “We can call it the Sticky Fingers Protocol,” he added and then headed back up to the penthouse where his husband was waiting for him on the couch.

“Did you find it?” Steve turned around and asked when he heard Tony walking through the door

“Nope,” Tony replied, pulling his hands out of pockets as if to prove a point. “The kid stole it,”

“He what?” Steve shouted, practically jumping off of the couch as he did so. “ Tony! Should we go after him?” he asked, already poised to grab his shoes and take off after the kid that had apparently decided that it was a good idea to steal from not one but two superheroes.

Tony shrugged his shoulders and calmly crossed the room so that he could drop down into his favorite chair. “I don’t really think that’s necessary,” he said but when it didn't look like Steve agreed he threw a hand up in the air and began to elaborate. “Look, my wallet was sitting right there with three different credit cards, a debit card, and at least two hundred and fifty dollars in it. All of that and the only thing the kid walked off with was an easily replaceable gift card and ten bucks.”

“It could have been fifteen cents and a blue cats-eye marble, and it would still be theft,” Steve asserted with his arms crossed firly over his chest.

“That’s oddly specific,” Tony said with an amused quirk of his brow. “I feel like there’s a story there. Is there a story there?”

“Tony!” Steve bit back in irritation because he simply couldn’t understand why the man was okay with someone coming into what amounted to their home and stealing something right out from under their noses. 

“What!” Tony questioned, meeting the other man at his volume before dropping his tone back to something a little more casual. “You mean to tell me that you don’t find it, I don’t know, interesting that the kid could have made off with my entire wallet but all he took was a gift card and a lousy ten-dollar bill?”

“Not even a little bit,” Steve blandly replied, moving his hands down to his hips. “You said he was coming back. What if he takes something else? Something bigger?”

With a soft smile, Tony got up from his chair and guided his still mildly stressed out husband to the couch, and began to rub his neck and shoulders. “Relax, Dear. I’ve got it covered. FRIDAY’s going to keep an eye on him and let me know if he gets any more larcenist whims. Isn't that right, FRIDAY?”

The AI confirmed the newest protocol and Tony leaned down to kiss his husband on the cheek. “Hear that? There’s nothing to worry about,” he murmured into the man's ear before giving his shoulders one last squeeze before joining him on the couch.

“Right,” Steve dubiously agreed. “Nothing to worry about.”

__________

“Here,” Peter said happily as he thrust a small brown paper bag into his best friend’s hands. 

Before the item had made it all the way into his hand, Ned was already looking at Peter in confusion. “What is this?” he asked without ever looking.

“A blueberry scone and it’s so good,” Peter replied, adding an extra bounce to his step as he did so. Between the gas station hot dog he’d bought to go with whatever the shelter gave him for dinner and the giant muffin he’d already eaten that morning, he was in a really good mood.

“I can’t take food from you!” Ned sputtered before attempting to get his friend to take the bag back. “I mean, I know how hard you work to get money for this kind of stuff and-” 

“-It’s fine Ned, I got a hold of a thirty-dollar Starbucks gift card and a little bit of cash,” Peter easily assured and then shrugged his shoulders. “Besides I wanted to do something for you. You’re always buying me things and this the one time that I could return the favor. Please just eat it,” he begged and was marginally satisfied when his friend hesitantly pulled the scone back towards himself. 

“I-” Ned began to protest but the genuine smile on Peter’s face stopped him. It was a rare sight, as of late, and he didn’t want to ruin it. “Okay, fine,” he sighed and took a bite of the still warm treat.

“It’s good, right?” Peter pressed.

“Yeah, Peter. It’s good,” Ned agreed as he continued to take small bites of the pastry. “So where did you get the gift card from, any-?” he began to ask, mostly out of curiosity but didn’t have the chance to complete his question before Peter was talking over him.

“-I saw Mr. Stark again yesterday after school,” Peter interrupted, more than happy to avoid that subject in favor of another. “He took me to McDonald’s and then back to his lab. I got to work in Tony Stark’s lab! Can you believe that?”

“That’s so awesome, Dude! It was Spider-man, right? He figured out that you’re Spider-man?” Ned replied with enthusiasm and when Peter nodded, things began to incorrectly click together in his head. “Oh! Did he give you the money and stuff too?”

“Not exactly,” Peter hurriedly returned and then waved his hand in dismissal. “But he’s making me a really awesome suit with an AI and everything! I don’t have it yet but he said he’ll be in touch.”

“That’s crazy, Dude but where did the gift card and the money come from?” Ned asked, feeling suddenly uneasy about his friend's unusual level of evasiveness. It wasn't like Peter to hide things from him and that was enough to have him thinking the worst. “You didn’t- you didn't take it, did you?”

“It wasn’t like that!” Peter defended, feeling slightly miffed at the accusation. “It was more of a Robin Hood kind of thing,” he vaguely explained but when his friend continued to look at him with disappointment he threw his hands up in the air. “I mean, come on. Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers have more than enough money to spare. They won’t miss what little I took. In fact, they probably won’t even notice that it’s gone and I, well, I needed it.”

“I don’t know, Peter,” Ned replied with deep skepticism. “The Stark-Rogers’ are always doing things for other people. Just last week they started the September Foundation. They’re literally funding every single student at MIT’s capstone projects. I think that if you had asked them for the cash they probably would have just given it to you,” he gently suggested. He wasn’t trying to upset his friend so much as he simply didn’t understand his thought process. 

“Yeah, but at what cost?”Peter nearly snapped, his good mood having dropped to guarded aggravation. “They would have started asking questions and if people start asking questions then I end up in a foster home across the state. No more Midtown. No more Spider-man. And it’s not like I took one of their bank cards or anything,” he reasoned. “I was- careful.”

Ned nodded his head and took a deep breath as he tried to decide how to express the amount of concern that had arisen at Peter's justification. “Just promise me that this isn’t going to become a habit. I mean, you’re Spider-man and- well, Spider-man doesn’t steal stuff,” he tentatively expressed, swallowing hard when his friend rolled his eyes. 

“I’m not going to start pick-pocketing on Main if that’s what you’re implying,” Peter sarcastically returned.

“I’m not implying anything!” Ned nearly shouted and then hesitated for a few seconds before attempting to better explain. “ I just- If you get caught stealing then that will be worse than people asking questions. They won’t just send you to foster care, Peter. They’ll send you to jail,”

“Look, man, I know what I’m doing, alright?” Peter firmly asserted because he’d actually given the entire situation a great deal of thought. It wasn’t like he was going to start taking things from random people just because he could. It was a one-time thing. Unless of course, similar circumstances arose, in which case he’d weigh that situation just as heavily. He wasn’t going to be rash. “Just trust me.”

“I do trust you,” Ned sighed out. “I’m just- worried,”

“Well don’t be,” Peter assured. "There's nothing to worry about.”

“Sure,” Ned cautiously agreed just as they reached the school’s entrance. “Nothing to worry about.”

After that, nothing else was said on the subject and everything quickly fell back into a normal rhythm. They walked to school together in the morning and went their separate ways in the afternoons, leaving Peter to go through his regular routine of looking for work and patrolling before finding a place to do his homework and get some sleep.

Nights continued to be difficult. The days were filled with one activity after another but once he was lying still and staring at whatever ceiling he had above him for the night, Peter’s emotions would begin to bubble to the surface. As he waited for sleep to take him, he would allow his mind to wander to all of the deep places that he never allowed it to go to during the day. Often he’d think about his parents and his old life but after having spent the afternoon with Tony, sometimes, he’d indulge himself and think about the future. He was certain that the new spider-suit was going to change everything. Maybe even lead to him becoming an official Avenger, giving him not only a permanent address but a pseudo-family as well. He quickly learned that the nights he imagined what being a part of the team would be like, were the nights that he slept the best. 

By the time Friday morning came around, Peter was starting to get a little anxious. Mr. Stark had yet to get in touch with him in any capacity and he was starting to wonder if he ever would. It was easy to believe that something so amazing would boil down to nothing. It wasn’t like he was used to things going his way or anything but what was most concerning was why Mr. Stark had decided to no longer pursue him.

The most obvious reason would be that one of the heroes had discovered the missing money and had decided that they didn’t want to be associated with a thief. There was also a chance that Tony had tried to contact him at the address listed in the school directory and realized that the apartment number didn’t exist. He spent the entire school day fretting over the possibilities only to receive a text message the moment he sat down for Decathlon Practice. 

‘Meet me out back -TS’ the message read and was quick to make up an excuse to leave the room, Ned looking at him with unbridled excitement the whole time. He wished he could say he felt the same but the closer he got to the back doors the more nervous he became. He had no idea what to expect but there was a small part of him that was convinced that he was about to be in deep trouble. The prospect was making his stomach flip even after he’d looked up to find the man leaning against his car, smiling in his direction.

“Hey there, Underoos,” Tony greeted, then narrowing his eyes and taking in the kid’s rigid posture and generally blank expression. He was used to being met with a bit more enthusiasm and vaguely wondered if the lack of reaction was due to some amount of lingering guilt. “I gotta say, I expected you to be a little more excited to see me.”

“I am excited to see you, Mr. Stark!” Peter rapidly corrected, pulling his hands from his pockets and plastering a smile across his decidedly blushing face. “I’m sorry. I’m just-”

“-hungry?” Tony interposed, having decided to have mercy on the kid. And when the question was met with an expected nod of the head, he turned around and opened the car door in one smooth motion. “Then, let's go get you something to eat. How do you feel about falafel?”

“I’ll eat anything,” Peter mumbled, unintentionally sliding his hands back into his pockets as he pretended to study the tiny sprigs of grass growing between the cracks in the cement.

“Good. Then get in the car,” Tony instructed, smiling when the kid looked up and closed the short distance between them. 

It didn’t take long for them to reach their destination and soon they were sitting in the back of a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant that Peter had never realized existed. He was curious as to why a billionaire would be familiar with such a small business but he had to admit that the food was beyond amazing. Which, honestly, he should have expected when Tony ordered himself a meal as well. 

The majority of the time spent eating was filled with the occasional comment or question regarding the food or the small restaurant's quaint decor. However, once his plate has been reduced to a few spoonfuls of rice and a mostly eaten salad, Peter looked around to make sure no one was watching and then cautiously attempted to gain the man’s attention. “So,” he said, trying to sound as casual as possible, “Is the thing you were working on ready?”

“Yep,” Tony replied, popping the last bite of pita into his mouth, brushing his hands together, and grinning mirthfully. “Just need to run a few things by you and then it’s yours for the taking.”

Despite the uncomfortable feeling that had stemmed from the man’s phrasing, Peter nodded his head. “What kinds of things?” he asked as he twirled the plastic fork he was still holding between his fingers.

“I guess you could call it a tutorial,” Tony replied with a smirk “Figured it would be better to have you do a test run at the tower rather than just sending you on your merry way without any instructions,” he explained, tilting his head when the kid’s eyes trippled in size.

“We’re going back to the tower?” Peter asked before he could stop himself but there was a small part of him that was still convinced that the man knew exactly what he’d done and was never going to allow him inside of his lab ever again. 

“Uh- yeah. That’s where the suit is, Kid” Tony returned with an amused quirk of his brow. “Did you not want to come back to the tower?”

“No!” Peter shot back with alarm that was quickly replaced with relief. He’d gotten away with it. He’d taken the card and the money right off of Tony’s desk and the man was none the wiser. He couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face as the muscles he didn’t even know he’d been tensing loosened up. “I mean, yes, sir. Of course, I want to go back to the tower. I just didn’t think I would get the opportunity.”

Tony batted away the comment with a wave of his hand, leaned back in his chair, and crossed one leg over the other. “Yeah, well, Speaking of opportunities- I have something of a proposal for you,” he casually announced. “I was thinking that with a little bit of mentoring and some proper training, that you could become a real asset to the team.”

“You want to make me an Avenger?” Peter strained, dropping his fork and gripping the table as though it might try to get away from him. “Are you serious, Mr. Stark?”

With a barely concealed roll of the eyes, Tony shook his head. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Kid,” he said, holding his hands up in a placating manner. “All I’m saying is that you have a lot of potential that I’m willing to invest in. We can talk about making you an official part of the team once you’re capable of growing some actual facial hair.”

Peter wanted to be annoyed by the diminutive comment but he wasn’t. He was entirely too hung up on the part where Iron Man had declared him, as something akin to an Avenger in training but also worthy of his time and energy. So he simply nodded his head and happily went back to the last few bites on his plate. Something was finally going right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **So. Peter thinks he's gotten away with something and Tony has decided that having the kid, who he knows took things from him over on a regular basis is a good idea. *grins* What could possibly go wrong?**


	5. When the Game Isn't a Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for ebay and every one of your kudos, bookmarks, subscriptions and especially those sweet, sweet comments! 
> 
> I also wanted to let you know that I'm going to post two (2!) chapters this week! The next one will be up on Thursday. ❤️ 
> 
> I hope you have a good week! 
> 
> ~pie

Rather than going back into the lab as they had before, Peter walked into the tower and found himself being led towards a large open gym. The floor was covered in mats, one entire side was covered in climbing panels and if you looked up you could see where there were dozens of obstacles just waiting to be lowered into place. It was a far cry from the school's waxed wooden floors, corrugated metal walls, and two rickety basketball goals. He was still taking it all in when he felt Tony nudging him on the shoulder. 

“Suit up, Junior. I’ll be over there,” Tony said, pointing first to the door leading to a men’s locker room and then to a bench that was on the far side of the room. Then he handed the kid the suit and watched him disappear behind the swinging wooden door before reaching into his pocket to pull out a couple of crisp hundred dollar bills and a loyalty card he’d gotten from some random deli he’d stopped by the day prior. Not because he wanted or needed any kind of sandwich so much as he wanted to take advantage of the store’s marketing promotion. 

For every sandwich that you bought, you received a notch in a punch card and once you’d paid for ten, you could get one free on your next visit. So, he had gone ahead and purchased them all at once in order to instantly gain the reward. As an added bonus, he’d been able to feed ten different people on the way back to his car. He had obtained a small token to potentially entice the kid with and they had gotten a free meal. It was a win-win.

Tony hurriedly placed the items on the small table just outside of the locker room where Peter would, no doubt, see them and then made his way towards the bench he’d pointed out earlier. He didn’t have to wait long before the kid came rushing into the gym and literally flipping towards him. 

“Whoa, this is awesome! I mean I could have stuck the landing a little better but this is a new suit and-” Peter began to excitedly ramble, stopping himself just short of saying what he abruptly realized could be taken the wrong way. “-It’s perfect, Mr. Stark, really,” he swore, smiling so wide that it made his eyes crinkle in the corners.

Tony had to actively fight back the smile that was trying to tug at his own lips. Of all the hours he’s already spent with Peter, he’d yet to witness him displaying the same amount of energy that he radiated on YouTube. It was refreshing to see the kid finally coming out of his shell. “Alright, alright, you can play Olympic Gymnast later,” he said, gesturing towards the mask that the kid had pulled off and was holding in his hand. “Put your mask back on.”

Once Peter had the mask back over his head, Tony asked him to take a look at the web-shooter menu. He looked down at his hands, as instructed, and blinked back in surprise. In his peripheral was a gauge indicating how much web-fluid was remaining in each of the loaded cartridges and that was definitely going to come in handy but what had really taken him by surprise was the selection wheels that had popped up just above his palms. “Oh wow! There are, like, five-hundred-and-seventy-six web combinations here!” he nearly shouted, still mentally reading through the various selections. “I don’t even know what to do with all of these!”

“Yeah, well, I like to be thorough and I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Tony quipped and then stood up so that he could nudge the kid along. “Now, come on, kid. Do your spider thing,” he said and then watched as the boy shot a web after web across the high ceiling, whooping and laughing the whole time.

From there the next couple of hours were spent going over different safety measures, expectations, and maintenance requirements. Tony went into detail about everyhing that had been put into place while Peter listened with rapt interest. Though he’s strategically left out the part where he could track the suit's location and a notification would be sent directly to him should Spider-man’s vitals ever decide to tank. Those had been for his own peace of mind and the kid didn’t really need to know about that. 

“So, that’s it? I can take it with me this time?” Peter asked after the man had called him back from another lap around the gym. 

“That’s the plan,” Tony stated. “As long as you think you can handle it. This is a sophisticated piece of equipment, Kid.”

Peter pulled the mask off of his face, allowing his overgrown, sweaty hair to fall in his face, and smiled. “I can definitely handle it, Mr. Stark,” he proclaimed, earning himself a firm pat on the shoulder. 

“That’s what I want to hear,” Tony said as he stood up and glanced towards the exit. “I’m going to run down to the lab to update the permissions so that you can walk out of here without setting off any alarms while you go change,” he said even though he needed to do no such thing. He simply wanted to make sure that the kid had the opportunity to find the goodies he’d left on the table. “capisce?”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Stark!” Peter called out and then gave a thumbs-up before he started walking back towards the locker room. 

Standing just down the hall, Tony had FRIDAY pull up the video and audio feed from the live surveillance in the gym. He watched the teenager half skip across the gym, only to pause when he got to the table. “What are you going to do, kid?” he whispered to himself as Peter began looking around the room as though he were making certain that he was alone before allowing his hand to hover over the money.

While Tony continued to quietly observe from afar, Peter's mind was racing. He’d told Ned that stealing from the Stark-Rogers’ wasn’t going to become a habit and there he was contemplating his options. Though he wasn’t sure that doing something twice could really be considered a habit. 

It didn’t take him long to decide that taking even one of the large bills was entirely too risky and was about to continue into the locker room when he realized that the little rectangular paper wasn’t just a business card. He carefully picked it up and turned it over to see that it was basically a coupon for a free sandwich. As he stared at it, he considered how easily something so small could be misplaced. People lost those kinds of things all the time and if Tony hadn’t noticed a missing gift card, then chances were he’d never notice a flimsy punch card going missing either. That and a free footlong sandwich was a big deal to him. The next day was Saturday, there would be no school-provided lunch and any meal that didn’t cut into his meager savings was a huge help. Besides, the man was a billionaire and he could afford to buy his own sandwich. And with that final thought, he hurried into the locker room to shove the card into his backpack.

“That ought to do it,” Tony said, unintentionally startling the kid when he returned to the gym having showered and changed back into his school clothes. “It’s after six. I suppose your aunt is expecting you home soon,” he questioned, looking down at his watch.

“Yeah,” Peter agreed, shuffling on his feet and looking down towards the floor. “I should probably get going.” 

“I’ll walk you out,” Tony said with a curt nod of his head and then guided the boy towards the front of the building. “I’ll see you next Friday after school,” he provided before the boy had the chance to ask. He’d meant what he’d said about mentoring and training Spider-man. Whether he ever became an Avenger or not, it just seemed like the responsible thing to do. “And why don’t you plan on staying for dinner too, hmm?”

Peter swallowed hard and nodded his head. “Sure, Mr. Stark. That would be awesome,” he replied. “I’ll, uh, I’ll ask Aunt May.”

“Sounds like a plan, Underoos,” Tony returned with a smirk and was just about to turn to go back upstairs when something stopped him. “-and be careful with that suit, alright,” he found himself compulsively directing. “Don’t do anything I wouldn't do. And definitely don’t do anything I would do. There’s a little gray area. That’s where you operate. Got it?”

Peter smiled despite his mild unease and stepped out into the cold. “Little gray area. Got it,” he promised and then turned around to take off running. “Bye, Mr. Stark!”

__________

“How’d it go with the kid?” Steve asked as he set the table for dinner.

“Well, I still have two hundred dollars,” Tony returned with a wide grin, waving the twin bills in the air in front of him before feigning disappointment. “But unfortunately, we’re out one free sandwich from the deli on twelfth street,” he said, taking several long strides towards his husband so that he could kiss him on the cheek.

Steve allowed the affection but sighed dramatically as he did so. “Tony, Honey, I love you, but why are you doing this?” he asked in exasperation. He didn’t understand the man’s fascination with watching a minor stealing things. No matter how small. “I mean, shouldn’t you be discouraging this kind of behavior?”

“I’m not _en_ -couraging it,” Tony incredulously replied, taking the forks and napkins from his husband's hands and taking over the task. “I’m just interested in seeing where he draws the line, that’s all,” he explained with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

With a deep sigh, Steve turned towards the stove and started to carry the food he’d prepared over towards the table. “This isn't a game, Tony,” he said softly, looking his husband in the eye. 

“I know, it’s not a game,” Tony swore, returning the other man’s gentle gaze, “- and promise I’m not going to let it go too far.” 

“That’s all I ask,” Steve returned as they both took their seats at the table.

__________

While Tony and Steve were enjoying a warm dinner together, Peter was patrolling the city, getting a feel for the new suit and thoroughly enjoying the company that the AI provided. Then all of a sudden, he missed Ned. “Hey, Suit Lady? Are you able to send text messages, like a phone?” he asked, once he’d huddled up at the top of a water tower, with his back to the wind.

“I automatically connect to your phone any time you log in, Peter,” the AI replied, while simultaneously bringing his contacts list up in the corner of the HUD.

“Oh. So it still runs off of my data then, huh?” Peter dejectedly replied. He’s sort of hoped that the suit would run off of some sort of fancy internet or something and he supposed that parts of it definitely did. Just not the part that he needed in order to be able to have unlimited conversations with his best friend. “That sucks.”

“You sound unhappy, Peter,” The AI gently replied. “Would you like for me to send a bug report to Mr. Stark?”

“No! Definitely not,” Peter countered, haphazardly waving his hands in front of him. “I mean, it’s not a bug. I just- I don’t have a lot of data on my phone so-” he began to elaborate but his words trailed off at the end. He really didn’t want to have to explain his financial situation to anyone, let alone an artificial being.

“I understand. Bug report canceled,” The AI kindly replied.

“Thanks, Suit Lady,” Peter breathed out in relief and then stretched his legs out in front of him to get more comfortable. “You know? I feel kind of bad about calling you Suit Lady all the time. Do you have a name?” he asked, wondering why that hadn’t come up with Tony had introduced them.

“Mr. Stark created me to be your personal assistant. You can call me whatever you’d like,” the AI answered and Peter leaned his head back on the metal supports in thought.

“What if I called you, I don’t know,-” he expressed, still trying to come up with just the right name for the faceless voice that had been helping him out all evening. “What about Karen?” he finally asked, when nothing else seemed to suit her and was pleased when the AI expressed that the name he’d chosen for her was acceptable. Then he stood up, stretched his arms over his head, and dove towards the ground, shooting a web at just the right moment to catch himself. If he couldn’t text Ned, then showing up unannounced outside of his bedroom window was the next best thing. 

“Peter is that you!” Ned said, going from groggy to ecstatic once he’d gotten a good look at his friend who was clinging to the side of his house. “Is that- is that the new suit? That’s insane!”

Peter quickly climbed the window that had been opened for him and immediately slapped his hand over his friend's mouth. “Keep it down, Ned before you wake up your parents!” he hissed not wanting to have to explain his presence or his costume.

“Oh, right,” Ned agreed, instantly lowering his volume but the enthusiasm was still there. “But- wow. This is amazing! What’s it made of? Did Mr. Stark teach you anything cool? Wait! What does the interface look like? What about the AI? What’s it like to _have_ an AI? Hey, can I try on the mask!” he asked all in rapid succession.

“I- I don’t know,” Peter replied, unable to keep up with the constant stream of inquiries, and then blinked twice before handing over the mask he’d since removed and was holding tightly in his hand. 

Ned instantly tugged the cloth over his head and owlishly blinked his eyes as he looked around the room. “This is so cool, Dude!” he strained and Peter couldn't disagree.

“Yeah, it’s really cool,” he agreed and then went into an animated narrative about everything that had happened that day. Including Tony's offer to mentor and train him. Though he did choose to leave out the part where he’d taken the coupon. It wasn’t an integral part of the story and he really didn’t want to ruin the happy atmosphere by bringing it up. 

It was nearing midnight when the bubbling laughter and spirited conversation began to dwindle into tired sighs and wide yawns. “You going to sleep here?” Ned asked, already getting up to retrieve an extra blanket for the top bunk.

“You know I can’t, Man,” Peter replied with a weary frown. He was warm and comfortable and wished for nothing more than to be able to stay right where he was but that it wasn’t actually an option. “Your parents would find it totally weird that I just showed up in the middle of the night and they’d want to call Aunt May.”

“You could always sneak out before they get up?” Ned suggested and Peter sighed heavily as he thought it over.

“I probably shouldn’t risk it. Thanks though,” he said and then forced himself to get up and pull the window open so that he could gracefully leap into the yard. “I’ll see you Monday,” he whispered once his feet had touched the ground and then headed towards the busier parts of the neighborhood to track down a far less comfortable place to sleep.

Peter spent the remainder of the weekend enjoying the new suit. Probably a little too much considering that he’d not taken any amount of time to look for any jobs. That left him with a grand total of four dollars and thirty-seven cents in his bag by the time he made it to school on Monday. He spent the majority of the morning trying to calculate the best way to get the most out of his money should he not be able to pick up any more work and was just starting to worry when the history teacher demanded that they all pair up for a project. He and Ned instantly gravitated towards one another and even though the rubric on the assignment was brutal he’d ended up being extremely grateful for it. 

The complexity of the project had meant spending two afternoons at the Leeds house in order to properly complete it and Ned’s mom had insisted he stay for dinner both times. That had helped significantly. As had the five dollars he got from Mr. Delmar when picked up the trash and swept the sidewalk in front of the store. It wasn’t going to be enough to run to the laundromat but it would keep him from starving completely over the weekend and that was something. 

Friday came quickly and as Peter exited the school with Ned behind him, Tony was waiting by his car as promised. He introduced his best friend to his new mentor and was only slightly surprised when the man took the time to shake Ned’s hand. Afterwhich Peter climbed into the car and was taken out for ice cream, followed by a short drive to the tower, where they met up with Steve in the gym.

At first, the idea of training with a super-soldier was intimidating. But Steve was thorough, gentle with his corrections, and offered praise when he did well. Finding out that he and the larger man were near equals in strength helped. He was pretty sure he would have died on the spot had he managed to injure Captain America. Especially when his husband, who also happened to be Iron Man, was watching them. 

After cleaning up in the locker room, all three of them made their way into the private lab where Tony plugged the spider-suit into the computer to run diagnostics. Peter was surprised when Steve hung around with them, though rather than getting involved with the technology he sat down and watched, occasionally asking him about school. 

At some point, Tony knocked a screwdriver and a few loose pieces of hardware off of the table and Peter ducked down to pick them up without ever having to be asked. He reached his hand underneath a nearby tool-chest and felt around, grabbing several screws before his fingers wrapped around something else. He pulled it out to investigate and realized it was a roll of quarters. He craned his neck to look over his shoulder to where the two men were playfully bickering about something or another and chewed on his lip. 

Ten dollars was a decent amount of money and he really did need to wash his clothes. Neither of the adults in the room was paying him any attention, at the moment, and he could easily slip the roll into his pocket. They probably didn’t even know the coins were under there and certainly wouldn’t miss it but still, he hesitated.

“You okay down there, Kid,” Tony asked, looking down at the kid who still was still laying flat on his stomach on the lab floor. 

Peter’s head shot to the side and he pulled the roll of coins under himself before addressing the man’s inquiry. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just- I’m pretty sure there’s one more screw under here and I can’t reach it,” he lied, hating how easily the mistruth has flowed out of his mouth.

With a roll of his eyes, Tony turned back to the console giving Peter the opportunity to place the coins into his pocket. Not speaking again until Friday had silently confirmed that the kid had made his decision and taken the money. “I think I can afford to replace a few screws, Pete,” he said, beckoning for the kid to get back to his feet. “Come on now, get up and come here. I need you to watch what I’m doing because next week, this is going to be on you.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Stark!” Peter said as he scrambled to his feet and rushed back to his mentor’s side. Tony ruffled his hair and smiled at him making his stomach do a little back-flip. Not because of the money he’d taken but because the touch had felt almost like affection. 

“It’s getting late, boys. I should go start dinner,” Steve said softly, smiling at the way his husband was smiling at the teenager beside him. If he didn't know any better he would have thought they were related. It was a nice thought. Then he shook his head and cleared his throat to get the kid’s attention. “You’re staying, right, Peter?” he asked.

Peter looked between the two men and smiled. Steve, taking an interest in his life outside of the suit and Tony, constantly patting him on the back and shoulder, had felt nice. Almost like he belonged there and that sudden thought had his heart pounding his chest. He’d just stolen something from them, for the third time in as many visits and he definitely wasn’t supposed to be getting comfortable with them. “A-actually, you know, I completely forgot to ask Aunt May about that so- so I probably shouldn’t,” he said, knowing that the more time he spent with the Stark-Rogers’ family the more attached he would become and that was a bad idea. They already knew one of his secrets, he didn’t need to slip up and reveal any more.

“Maybe next week,” Steve said kindly while Tony frowned disappointedly. 

Peter nodded his head and took a few steps towards his backpack. “Yeah. Maybe, Next week, Captain Rogers” he said while pulling on his heavy coat. “I should go, now.”

Steve nodded his head and smiled, nudging his husband into doing the same. “We’ll walk you down,” he said, then leading the way to the lobby where both he and Tony watched the kid hurry away from them.

__________

“What do you think that was about?” Tony asked as he and Steve crossed the lobby on their way back up to the penthouse.

“I don’t know. Maybe he feels guilty about stealing from us. _Again_. Or, maybe he really did just forget to ask his aunt. Who knows,” Steve said with a sigh. 

After giving it some quiet thought, Tony sighed as well. “Yeah, maybe. I suppose that makes sense,” he mumbled even though wasn’t really convinced that it did. 

“You could always remind him to ask her about staying for dinner next week,” Steve proposed and Tony nodded his head.

“I can definitely do that,” he thought out loud and then tipped his head back against the cool mirrored wall of the elevator. “-and I hope it works, the sticky-fingered little shit is starting to grow on me.”

Steve smiled and leaned in to kiss Tony’s frowning lips. “I noticed,” he whispered, “-and to be perfectly honest, I can see why. He’s a sweet kid. He’s still a thief, mind you. But a really sweet one,” he said, smiling when he met eyes with his chuckling husband.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***gasps* Did Tony just admit that he was starting to really care about Peter? I wonder if that will help him to see things with a bit more- clarity...?**


	6. A Safe Distance

Thursday evening, nearly an entire week after stealing from and subsequently dodging dinner plans with Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, Peter still felt bad. Not for abruptly leaving and not so much for taking what was, surely, a forgotten roll of quarters either. That ten dollars had been something he’d desperately needed. It had provided him with clean clothes and several gas station hotdogs that had allowed him to go to bed with a semi-full stomach. What he felt bad about was the fact that he so deeply wanted to be able to accept the invitation of belonging that the two men seemed to be offering him. 

He liked being with Ned’s family. He loved them and they loved him in return but they were Ned’s family. They always had been and he'd never caught himself pretending that they were anything but that. But when Tony had ruffled his hair and Steve had given him that soft smile it had felt so parental and there had been a split second that he’d actually indulged in the warm feeling that those actions had provided. Though that comfort had quickly phased into fear when he’d realized how dangerous that had been. He needed to keep them at a distance so that he didn’t say too much because once the truth came out he’d be shipped off to God knows where and that would mean losing every remaining thing that he had that was important to him. No matter how much he wished he could, he couldn’t get close to them. There was too much at risk.

He sighed as a painful twinge shot through his chest and leaned back against the building he’d been perched at the top of for the last half an hour. Only to jolt back upright when a call came flashing across his HUD. “Incoming call from Tony Stark,” his AI announced as if he couldn’t see the man’s contact information displayed in front of him. 

“Hang up, Karen,” he frantically demanded because the last thing he needed to be doing was talking to the very person he’d just decided that he needed to step back from. 

“I do not have the authority to disconnect-” Karen began to reply but before she could finish the call had been pushed through and Tony’s face was directly in Peter’s line of vision. 

“-Hey, Kiddo! How’s the suit treating you?” Tony cheerily asked.

Feeling slightly annoyed that he’d been unable to decline the call but also sort of relieved to see the man smiling at him, Peter stumbled over his reply. “Uh- fine. Good. It’s great, Mr. Stark. I helped this lost, old Dominican lady and she bought me a churro,” he said without thought, mentally kicking himself for throwing out such random information. _Why would he tell him about the churro?_

“Yeah? That’s great. Did you remember to tell your aunt that you’re staying for dinner tomorrow night? I hope so because Steve’s already bought everything he needs to make enough stew to feed the entire population of Manhattan,” Tony said all in one breath not allowing any room for the kid to actually answer him “If you and your enhanced stomach don’t stay for dinner I’m going to be stuck swimming in the stuff for a week.”

“I, um, I mentioned it,” Peter said, while still trying to formulate an excuse that would get him out of dinner without hurting the billionaire’s feelings. He needed to keep the men at a distance but he also needed their training and technical support. He wasn’t trying to run them off completely. 

“-And bread,” Tony quickly cut in. “The man is actually kneading homemade bread like a regular Suzie Homemaker, as we speak. He doesn't get to cook for other people often and he gets excited. In fact, I’m willing to bet there’ll be pie too. Do you like pie?”

“Pie?” Peter stupidly questioned, still mid-internal-struggle. 

Tony chuckled a little at the confusion, though he wasn’t sure what there was to be confused about. “Yeah, you know, a baked dish, usually made with pastry dough, contains a filling? In this case, probably apples, maybe blueberries but I suppose those are pretty out of season at the moment,” he said watching with interest as the kid’s face morphed from completely befuddled to blushingly sheepish. 

“Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Pie. I like pie,” Peter finally replied, desperately trying to even his tone so that he sounded normal but he wasn’t sure he was succeeding. The man was looking at him through narrowed eyes, though his smile had yet to falter. He tried to focus on that.

“Well then that’s perfect,” Tony replied, then giving a thoughtful look. “Maybe I should call your Aunt. She could come too-” he began to suggest, thinking that maybe that would help the kid calm down but all that served to do was to work him up even more.

“-No! No, no, no, no, no. She can’t come,” Peter nearly shouted. “She’s got- an extra shift that night,” he lamely added, realizing too late that he’d just opened up his schedule by removing the obstacle of his aunt wanting him home for dinner with her. 

“Great. Then we’ll see you for dinner,” Tony said with false bravado as he tried to sort out why the kid was acting so squirrely. Though he pushed those thoughts to the back of his head when the boy finally smiled at him, even if it did look a bit forced.

“I- yeah. I’ll see you for dinner, Mr. Stark,” Peter gave in. He’d been beaten and there was no other way for him to get out of the extended evening without leaving a trail of little red flags. It was time to put on his best happy face and just go with the flow. “I’m looking forward to it,” he concluded and at least he could say that those words weren’t a complete lie. It was hard not to look forward to a large hot dinner. He just hoped that he didn’t have to spend the entire meal dodging unwanted questions.

On Friday afternoon, Ned walked outside with Peter, though this time he didn’t follow him all the way to Tony’s car. He simply waved from the steps and then turned to leave in the opposite direction. Peter watched him go and sighed before getting into the man’s car. 

“You hungry?” Tony asked and Peter nodded his head. “Anything in particular that you want?” he asked next and wasn’t terribly surprised with the teenager simply shrugging his shoulders. The kid had been looking tense since he’d walked out of the school. “Well, let’s just grab some drive-through then,” he said, laying a gentle hand on the boy’s knee. 

Peter ate his food in near silence as they drove back to the tower and then followed Tony into the tall building. Apparently, Steve was already elbow-deep in cooking dinner and wouldn’t be available for training. That meant that they would be jumping right into the technical instruction that they’d started the week prior.

The moment they walked into the workshop, Peter pulled his suit out of his bag and wandered across the familiar room towards the large console. He could see Tony watching him out of the corner of his eye and tried his best to go through the steps without any mistakes. Once the diagnostics report was being displayed the man leaned over to take a look but as he did so their shoulders brushed together and he hated himself for the way he leaned into the gentle touch.

Eventually, they had done everything they could do on the spider-suit and Tony suggested that they look at the latest Iron Man armor. Peter couldn’t stop the smile that crept across his face at the suggestion. He couldn’t imagine there were very many people who could say that they had seen the inner workings of Tony Stark’s infamous suits and all of his anxiety melted away as began to take it all in.

Tony was pleased when the kid began asking him questions about the different functions of the armor and answered each of his questions without hesitation. Then he sat back and watched as the teenager carefully dissected a broken gauntlet. It was impressive how much information that Peter was able to ascertain from the one small task making a little flicker of pride bloom in his chest when the boy was able to repair the damaged wiring with very little guidance. 

Eventually, FRIDAY called them for dinner at Steve’s request and that’s when Peter’s nerves started to creep up on him again. As he followed Tony into the penthouse he looked down at his scruffy shoes and threadbare jeans and cringed at the way they stood out in glaring contrast to the plush carpets and exorbitant furnishings. Though neither adult seemed to notice or care.

“You’re right on time, Boys,” Steve called from the kitchen. “I was just about to set the table.”

Tony smiled and gave Peter’s shoulder a squeeze before heading towards the kitchen himself. “I’ve got, Dear. You did all the cooking, setting out a few napkins and bowls is literally the least I can do,” he said, holding out his hands to take the stack of dishes Steve had already pulled out of the cabinets. 

“I can help,” Peter jumped in. He was already feeling self-conscious and hoped that by doing something useful he could keep these feelings at bay. 

Steve smiled as he handed the stack of bowls to his husband and then turned his attention to the teenager who had crossed most of the way towards the kitchen. “That would be very nice of you, Peter. Thank you,” he said, holding out a handful of cutlery so that the kid could assist his husband in setting the table. 

As soon as Peter had placed the last spoon onto the last napkin, Steve came into the dining area carrying a giant serving bowl filled to the brim with stew and several loaves of bread neatly stacked in a basket. It was all he could do to not pick up his spoon and start shoveling the food into his mouth the moment the larger man began ladling it into his bowl. 

“So, Peter, How was school today?” Steve said as he began cutting and passing out thick slices of bread smeared with butter. 

Peter nodded his head and brought his napkin up from his lap to wipe a few dribbles of broth off of his chin before answering. “It was good. I aced my algebra test,” he said, accepting the bread that was being offered to him.

“That’s wonderful to hear. Congratulations,” Steve said with a smile, and much to Peter’s relief, the conversation stayed very much in that vein for the remainder of the meal, Steve asking him about his classes and Tony teasing him about being a nerd. With things going so well, by the time a large slice of pie was being set before him, he had allowed himself to completely relax in the men's company. 

“This was all really good, Captain Rogers. Thank you,” Peter said once he’s scraped up and eaten every last crumb of crust off of his plate. Between the dessert and the three servings of bread and stew, his stomach was so full that it ached. It was a welcome sensation compared to the nights that it had stung with emptiness.

“It was my pleasure, Peter but you can call me Steve,” Steve said as he began to collect the plates from around the table and carry them into the kitchen.

“Right. Well, thank you, Steve,” Peter quietly repeated. He wasn’t sure how he felt about being on a first-name basis with Captain America. It was nice to know that the man felt like they were on that level but at the same time, he’d been trying to avoid any kind of familiarity. 

“And if you can call him Steve then you can call me Tony, right, Buddy?” Tony chimed in, more than happy to let the formal title go. 

Peter nodded his head and whispered a quiet, “Yes, sir,” not bothering to test out the new name. Instead, he looked around the room until he found a large clock mounted to the wall. “It's, uh, it’s getting kind of late and I was hoping to get some patrolling in before I have to go to bed so- I guess I should probably go if I’m going to have time to do that,” he said, licking his lips as slowly backed towards the place where he’d discarded his coat and backpack.

“Sure,” Tony replied in understanding. It was Friday night and it made complete sense that the kid would want to spend a few extra hours swinging through the city. He’d not expected the kid to hang around much past dinner. “You want a ride back to Queens?”

“No, that’s okay. I can take the bus,” Peter said, picking up his coat and then setting it back down before looking between the nearest hallway and the two men who were currently watching him. “Can I, can I maybe use your bathroom really quickly before I go?” he asked, shifting slightly on his feet as he spoke.

“Of course,” Steve replied without missing a beat and pointed the kid in the right direction. He wasn’t actually sure why they hadn’t told where the bathroom was already. “It’s right down that hall there. First door.”

“Thanks. I’ll be right back,” Peter mumbled as wandered down the hall and into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Looking around, the room was just as extravagant as the rest of the penthouse, with its marble countertops, contemporary black fixtures, and abstract art hanging on the walls. He couldn’t wrap his brain around why anyone would feel the need to put that much time, effort, _or money_ into designing _a bathroom_. Knowing he was about to _pee in it_ almost made him feel bad. However, he shook that thought from his head, did what he’d come in there to do, and turned to wash his hands with one of the small pieces of molded soap that had been neatly arranged in the soap dish beside the sink. 

He had just pulled the decorative towel off of its hanger when he noticed a black woven basket filled with rolled-up washcloths, travel-sized toiletries, disposable razors, and several more pieces of the flower-shaped soap. It had clearly been set up for guests and he took a moment to consider that technically he was a guest. Although he wasn’t staying the night and he certainly wasn’t about to hop into their shower, but he was running low on bath products. A tiny bottle of name-brand shampoo would last him several washings and upon further inspection, there was a tiny bottle of cologne tucked beside an equally small bottle of perfume. He’d not owned anything like that in a very long time and with very little thought snatched it up, along with several other items, and stuffed it all deep into his pockets before hurriedly exiting the room.

“Good to go?” Tony asked once the kid had reappeared and begun putting on his coat. When he received a quiet nod of confirmation he smiled and walked towards the door, Steve close behind him. “We’ll walk you down,” he said, nodding towards his husband and then flinging an arm over the teenager's shoulder as they exited the penthouse and took the familiar route towards the front lobby.

Right as he was about to walk out the door Steve pulled him into a hug and Tony, not one to be outdone, quickly joined in. And as much as Peter wanted to pull away he couldn’t because his eyes had begun to stupidly water. It was just that he’d not been hugged in a very long time. Ned’s mother would touch his face and his dad would pat him on the back he couldn't actually remember the last time he’d been in anyone's full embrace. He took several seconds to blink away the treacherous tears but the moment he was sure that he managed it, he pulled away, bid the men one last farewell, and took off, determined to never see them again.

__________

Upon their return to the penthouse, Steve went down the hall to turn out the light that Peter had left on and sighed at the scene before him. While the bathroom itself was just as clean as ever, the basket that held an assortment of grooming items meant for guests who had forgotten something at home, was nearly empty. All that remained were a handful of feminine products, a razor, and some shaving cream. Outside of that, even the soft washcloths and the small nail kit were missing. 

“Tony?” Steve asked when he felt his husband leaning in around his shoulder. “Did you know about this?”

“Not until a couple of minutes ago,” Tony sighed. He’d really wanted the evening to go well and had intentionally chosen to not distract the kid with any sort of obvious temptation. He’d not really expected him to find any all on his own. “FRIDAY doesn’t exactly have access to the bathrooms outside of emergency situations. Though she did inform me that the kid had a few usual items in his pockets as he left. I hadn’t really had time to put it all together until just now.”

Steve flipped the switch, stepped out into the hallway, and leaned up against the wall. “You know? I just can't figure out what’s going through that kid’s head. One minute he’s eating dinner with us and telling us about his best friend, and the next he’s swiping whatever he can fit into his pockets off of the bathroom counter, only to let us hug him on the way out the door,” he said in tired exasperation. The problem was he liked Peter. He was smart, had good manners, and was just overall pleasant to be around, the fact that he was even _capable_ of stealing was baffling to him. “I just don’t get it.”

Leaning on the opposite wall, Tony looked up at the ceiling in thought. “Well, whatever it is, it’s never been about the money. He’s always left the biggest bait untouched,” he outwardly pondered. “I always sort of assumed it had more to do with impulsivity and maybe some peer-pressure than anything else,” he continued with a wave of his hand and then looked helplessly towards his husband. “But between this and a handful of other little idiosyncrasies I’ve picked up on, I’m starting to wonder if there’s more to it.”

“Maybe we should sit him down and talk to him about all of this next time he's here,” Steve hesitantly suggested. “Just to make sure that everything’s okay.”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed with a deep sigh. Those kinds of conversation aren't typically his forte but, in this case, it seemed less intrusive and far more practical than hiding out in his lab sifting through mountains of useless information in search of something that they could hopefully coax the kid into telling them. He wasn’t sure it would work but figured it was worth a try. “We probably should.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Well, Peter made a bold choice and our resident genius is finally starting to put things together. But if anyone can get Peter to open up it's Steve, right?**


	7. Run

Peter spent the next few days doing his best to forget about Tony, forget about Steve, and forget about how stupidly safe and warm he’d felt in the men’s presence. He didn’t need them. With Ned’s support, he was doing fine on his own. Not that it mattered, he’d not exactly been sneaky when he’d taken all of the things from the penthouse bathroom. There was no way something like that was going to remain unnoticed. He’d ruined everything and he wasn’t sure why he was so upset about that because he’d basically been asking for it. He’d just never taken the time to consider how much the abrupt disengagement would hurt. Probably because it shouldn’t have. He’d only know them for a few weeks. He had no right to feel as attached as he did. 

After deciding that he was simply letting his emotions get the best of him, Peter decided that the best way for him to combat the feeling of loss was to keep busy and the easiest way to keep busy was to patrol. Especially at night, when his mind tended to wander into places he really didn’t want it to go. Meaning that unless he was on the brink of falling asleep, he was out and about, swinging through Queens.

“Got anything for me, Karen? Anything at all?” he asked from where he sat at the very top of an old apartment building. It had been relatively quiet all day, even for a Tuesday, and he was practically twitching as he waited for his AI to scan the area.

“An alarm has been tripped at the Slocumb Community Bank near Forest Hills. From your current location, you would be able to arrive on the scene approximately nine minutes before local law enforcement arrived,” Karen finally provided, pinpointing the exact location on a map, directly in front of him. 

“Forest Hills?” Peter hesitantly repeated because that was the one area he tended to avoid when possible. That’s where he’d grown up. That’s where his mom had packed his school lunches and his dad had built him a fort in their tiny backyard. That’s where his report cards had been displayed on the fridge and his coat had hung on the lowest hook by the door. Up until the day he’d buried his parents, Forest Hills had been his home.

“Would you like for me to highlight the quickest route?” the AI questioned when Peter didn’t respond to her confirmation.

Peter took a deep breath in through his nose, shook his head, and vigorously rubbed his hands together. “Yeah. Let’s do this,” he said, hopping up to bounce on his toes in preparation for his departure. The bank wasn’t far but he’d already killed two minutes just sitting there doing nothing and that wasn’t acceptable. Spider-man was a hero, he wasn’t supposed to hesitate. And he intended to make up for that lost time. 

Once he’d swung his way into the bank and had crawled across the ceiling, it took no time at all to find the four men that Karen had warned him about. Each of them was wielding a weapon unlike anything he’d ever seen before and he quickly realized that he was probably well outside of the little gray area that Tony had insisted that he operate within. Though he was sure why that particular thought had come to mind. He was never going to see Tony again and even if he was, the man wasn’t in charge of him. Besides, he was already there and it wasn’t like he could just walk away. Not when he could prevent a robbery and get a bunch of terrifyingly powerful weapons out of his neighborhood.

“Hey, Guys. What's up? Besides me, of course,” he called out once he’d crept into the room and was dangling from a web in front of all four masked men. They had barely had the opportunity to gasp before he’d shot a web towards the largest gun and yanked it towards himself. “Oh, neat! This is really awesome! Where’d you get it? Is there, like a super-secret bad guy weapons retailer nearby? Think they would sell me something?” he asked before squeezing the wide barrel and rendering it, hopefully, useless. “Probably not, huh. Seeing as I’m a good guy and all. My loss I guess.”

The man he’d taken the gun from growled in aggravation and Peter took that as his cue to lead the robbers away from the innermost portion of the bank. Except while two of them readied to follow him the other two stayed by the vault setting up what was probably some sort of a bomb but he was too busy avoiding the beams of light being shot in his direction to tell for sure. 

“Wow- that was uncalled for, don’t you think?” He asked as he shot one last final web towards the two bad guys who had been actively shooting at him, thus plastering them to the wall. “I mean, the police are on their way and all I wanted to do was ask you guys to hand over the ray guns and maybe stop robbing banks. You could have totally walked away from this. I was doing you a favor” he groused and then turned his attention towards the other two men, one of which had already pulled, what looked like, a giant taser out of nowhere. “Do I really need to web you two up as well or are you doing to play nice?” he tiredly inquired.

“We don’t have time for this, Higgs,” the guy toying with the vault hissed, without ever breaking concentration. “Just do whatever you need to do to get him out of here.”

“My pleasure,” the man whose name was apparently ‘Higgs’ said at the same time Peter’s spider-sense flared to life under his skin. Yet before he had time to properly react, the man had activated a jet pack, grabbed him by the arms, and blasted through the ceiling. 

He tried to struggle, he tried to fight back but with nothing below him but the air, he had no leverage. The elevation at which they flew, continued to steadily soar until without any warning at all, Peter felt himself being released and with his face to the sky, he began to fall. The shock of it had him gulping down a breath of air with the intent to scream but it seemed that his lungs had ceased to function. Then he felt a jolt at his back and was suddenly engulfed in a parachute that he’d not even realized existed. He grappled to right himself, to get below the fabric but the more he flailed the more tangled he became, and when he finally hit the surface of the water that had been below him he no longer had the mobility necessary to swim to the surface. He fought until he couldn’t anymore and was right at the verge of losing consciousness when he felt a pair of metal arms grab a hold of him.

“Christ, Kid! What were you thinking?” Tony said mostly to himself as he laid the kid’s sodden body out across the grass that surrounded the park’s large pond. He’d received a distress signal from the spider-suit and had gotten there as fast as he could but as he removed the mask and looked at the teenager’s slackened features he wished he could have been just a few seconds faster. “Come on, Pete. It’s wake-up time,” he said as he patted the boy on the cheek.

Before the world had even begun to come back into focus, Peter started to cough and sputter. He could feel someone manhandling him onto his side as a rush of water and bile erupted from his throat but didn't have the coherency to know who it was until he was done and had rolled himself onto his back. “Mr. Stark?” he rasped, blinking up at the man for a few seconds before trying to sit up.

“Stay down, Pete. FRIDAY said that you could have aspirated some water,” Tony said softly, placing a hand on the boy’s chest to ease him back down to the grass. “Steve’s on his way with the car. We need to get you looked at.” 

“How-” Peter began, cutting himself off with another fit of harsh coughing that ended with a pathetic groan. “How did you even find me?” he asked, his head finally clear enough to begin to process what had taken place over the last half an hour or so. He didn’t remember calling for help and then it hit him. “Did you put a tracker in my suit?”

“I put everything in your suit,” Tony returned with confidence, clicking away at something on his watch while simultaneously keeping an eye on the way the kid was shivering. “Including this heater.”

Peter sighed as the suit began to warm around him and closed his eyes. He was just beginning to truly relax when Tony’s previous words finally sunk in. “Wait, you put a tracker on me?” he shouted, bolting upright before the man could stop him.

“Of course, I put a tracker on you and it’s a good thing I did. You’d be at the bottom of that lake right now,” Tony said with a scoff that didn’t really do much to cover up his persistent concern. “Just calm down, I’m going to call you aunt and let her know that-”

“-You don’t need to call her!” Peter shouted before the man could finish his thought. 

Tony sighed and brushed his fingers through the kid’s damp hair in an effort to keep the long wet strands from falling into his horror-stricken eyes. “Pete, I need to call her,” he all but whispered. “We can leave out the spider stuff but-”

“-No! You don’t understand! I don't want you to do that! I don’t need a doctor. I’m fine!” Peter argued, jumping to his feet in the process. Though, Tony was quick to catch him by the elbow with his armored hand, sending him into a full-blown panic. “I’m a minor, you have no jurisdiction over me and you can’t force me to go with you! Just let me go!” he screamed as he frantically tried to yank his arm out of Tony’s servo-assisted grip. Eventually, he was able to break free, falling onto his butt in the process but he was quick to scramble to his feet and take off before the man could grab him again.

As Tony readied himself to follow, Steve, who had arrived just in time to witness the argument, swept in to prevent the man from taking off. He dolefully shook his head and wrapped his arms around his visibly distraught husband's frame, allowing him to rest his head on his chest. 

“Steve, we can’t just let him go like that,” Tony pleaded but he made no attempt to pull away from the later man’s hold.

“He’s right though Tony,” Steve said with a painful sigh. “We have no legal ties if we take him against his will then we’re guilty of child abduction.”

At those words, Tony straightened his back and began to pace back and forth by the pond’s shore. “Well, then what do we do,” he nearly shouted, throwing a frustrated hand up into the air, “-because he doesn't want us to talk to his aunt and he just swallowed half of a pond full of who knows what. He probably needs to see a doctor.”

Steve nodded his head and took a deep breath as he silently weighed their options. “Well, I guess, whether he wants us to or not, the responsible thing to do would be for us to contact his guardian,” he finally offered but even as he said it out loud he wasn’t sure if that was the right thing or not. There was no real protocol for this sort of thing and he had very little prior knowledge to go off of.

”You’re sure I shouldn’t just go after him not?” Tony asked, still staring in the direction the kid had taken off in. The tracker was still active and he could still catch up with him. Spider-man was fast with the webs but Iron Man had the advantage of flight.

“Not tonight,” Steve exhaled. “He seemed okay and I think it might be best if we gave him some time to cool off. We’ll call his aunt first thing in the morning.”

__________

Peter swung from the park to the dark, fenced-off alley where he’d webbed his backpack behind a dumpster and swiftly changed clothes. A glance at his phone showed that it was nearly midnight but, even still, he rushed towards Ned’s house. He needed a place to safely work on the spider-suit and his best friend’s bedroom seemed like the best place to do that.

As expected he had to tap on the window several times before Ned woke up enough to realize that he was there. “Ned, I need your help,” he said as he climbed through the window, already yanking his suit out of his backpack. “There’s a tracker in this thing and I need to get it out.”

Without question, Ned wiped the sleep from his eyes, locked his door, and grabbed a small tool kit out of his closet. “Where do you think it is?” he asked, watching with interest as his friend turned the spider-suit inside out, revealing a delicate mesh of wires. 

“I don’t know, Man, but there’s a port here, do you think you could go through some of the code and make sure that I’m not missing anything else that might give my location away?” Peter asked, never looking up from where he was already scanning the suit inch by inch in search of the elusive tracker.

They worked together for at least an hour, Peter finding, removing, and subsequently crushing the tracker before flushing it down the toilet while Ned combed through the more complex code. He was quick to find the 'baby monitor protocol’ and was able to disable it without a problem. Then went so far as to clear any video footage that had been stored but not yet accessed. It wasn’t until his friend was satisfied with their work, that he finally asked why they were messing with the suit, to begin with.

Peter explained everything in great detail from the afternoons he’d spent in the lab to the night he’d eaten dinner with the Stark-Rogers all the way up to the moment that he’d freaked out and hightailed it out of the park, including all of the things he’d stolen in the process. He hung his head low, expecting Ned to upset about, well, the entire series of events, really but rather than chastise, his friend sighed and leaned over to give him the briefest of hugs. 

“What’s your plan and how can I help?” Ned asked because even though he was disappointed and a tiny bit shocked by Peter’s admissions, they were still best friends and best friends helped each other out of tough situations. 

Peter took a shaky breath and leaned back against the wall below the window. He had a lot to consider and, honestly, he had no idea how to navigate some of it. “I’m uh, I’m going to have to miss some school. I’m sure that once they figure everything out they’re going to try to find me there,” he said, knowing that Tony wasn’t likely to rest until he got what he wanted. “I don’t want to lose my place though, so maybe, maybe you could collect some homework for me?”

“Where are you going to stay?” Ned asked when nothing else was said for several long seconds.

“I- I don’t know yet,” Peter confessed. He’s simply not had the time to think about any of that yet and was angry with himself for not being able to answer such a basic question. He’d been riding a very thin line for nearly a year. Anyone at any moment could have called him out on his bullshit and he really should have already had a plan in place. “All I know is that I’m going to have to lay very, very low.”

Ned nodded his head and turned back towards his computer and opened up an incognito tab. “I’ll send an email to the school from the address we set up before. I’ll tell them you have pneumonia or something. Then I’ll go ahead and start working on some documents in case they ask for proof,” he said with a small smile. Clearing things up with the school was something he was confident he could do, thus giving his friend one less thing to worry about. “That should cover you for a week or so, anyway,”

“Thanks, Man. You're the best,” Peter said with a tired sigh that turned into a yawn. “I’ll let you get back to sleep. I’m gonna go try to find a bed somewhere,” he said, pulling his coat on cracking open the window.

“Wait a second!” Ned practically shouted, pulling a small tin out of his desk and shoving it into his friend's hands. “Take this.”

“Ned, this is your savings!” Peter shot back, already knowing that there was at a minimum, sixty dollars hidden inside of that particular container. Ned had been tucking away little bits of money here and there for a while, hoping to eventually have enough to go online and purchase a large discontinued Star Wars Lego set.

“I know! But you need it more than I need some overpriced Legos,” Ned insisted but when it looked like Peter was going to continue to refuse, he grunted in frustration. “You can pay me back someday if you really want to but if you’re not going to school then you’re going to need food and stuff, and I can help with that,” he urged, unwilling to let the subject go until the money was in his friend’s position. “Just take it”

Peter swallowed hard, took the tin, and gave Ned a curt nod of thanks before silently climbing out the window. He really was lucky to have such an amazing friend and he hoped that between the two of them, they would be able to prevent anything disastrous from happening.

__________

“Morning, Sweetheart. Did you get any sleep at all?” Steve asked. He’d woken up early to find the opposite side of the bed empty and went ahead and assumed that this husband had gotten up shortly after he’d gone to sleep.

Tony leaned into the kiss that was being planted on the side of his head and sighed. “The number’s fake,” he grumbled.

“What?” Steve asked before everything clicked into place. “Oh. Are you sure it’s fake, not just a mistype or something?” he questioned because that seemed like the easiest explanation. Though he should have known that Tony had already explored that avenue to its fullest. 

“I had FRIDAY double-check the school's records and then pull up a directory for every number even remotely close to the one that was listed,” Tony said, not looking up from the empty coffee mug he’d been holding for the last hour while he waited for Steve to get out of bed. “None of them belonged to a May Parker.”

“Did you try calling Peter?” Steve asked without thought.

“Yep,” Tony replied with a nod of his head. “He’s predictably avoiding my calls by having turned off his phone.” 

After some quiet thought, Steve sighed and sat down on the barstool beside Tony. “I know you have his address. Why don’t we drive over there after breakfast,” he suggested, smiling when his husband got up, grabbed a pair of keys from the collection on the counter, and told him to grab his shoes. “Or now. Now also works,” he said, hurrying to the fridge to grab a bottle of juice for the road.

“What was the apartment number again?” as they stood outside of a tiny run-down apartment block in the middle of Queens. 

“914,” Tony said without missing a beat.

Steve stared at the brick building and calculated its size. “That doesn’t make any sense. That building only has seven floors,” he said once he counted and recounted the windows, making doubly sure that there were no indications of any hidden levels in between or below. 

“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Tony shot back with annoyance but he couldn't bring himself to feel bad about it. He was just angry. He should have long since investigated the kid’s address, not to mention his guardian's contact information and now, with everything that had already taken place, he felt like it was all too little too late. He growled to himself as he kicked a crushed can halfway across the street.

“Look, I’m just as upset about this as you are!” Steve snapped, instantly lowering his tone when he gained the attention of several people loitering nearby. “How about we split up and knock on a few doors. Maybe someone knows something,” he proposed but Tony was already hovering beside the driver's side door.

“It’s a waste of time,” he grumbled. “The phone number was a fake, the address is a fake, Hell, the email is probably a fake too. We’re better off going home where I have the resources I’ll need to figure this out,” he as he got into the car and aggressively slammed the door shut.

Steve sighed and got back into the car as well. Asking around probably was a waste of time. The kid had made sure that the building was real, should anyone look it up because he was smart. Smart enough to know better than to use a location where anyone would know his or his aunt’s names. But he had every faith that Tony would figure it out and that all he really needed was some time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Well, Tony is pretty determined to get to the bottom of everything at this point. Hopefully, he'll find out what he needs to know once he gets back to his lab.**


	8. About May

“Did you find anything on the kid’s aunt?” Steve asked, dropping a plate piled high with sandwiches between himself and his husband who, as far as he knew, had yet to have anything but coffee for hours. It wouldn’t be surprising, self care often went out the window when the man was heavily involved in any kind of project. 

“Nothing useful,” Tony said, still tapping away at the keyboard despite already being surrounded by an abundance of articles and websites. “It’s almost as if this woman doesn't exist. If I hadn't found a social security number and a driver's license I would have thought that she didn’t,” he said pausing for a moment to run one hand through his hair and take a bite of the tuna sandwich that had been placed directly into his other.

“If you found a driver’s license then you found an address, right?” Steve questioned, scanning all of the holographic in search of the license but he couldn’t find it in the jumbled mess. Though he had no doubt that if he asked, Tony could pull it up instantly. It was as if the man thrived in chaos.

Tony pulled up a map and zoomed to show yet another large apartment building and sighed. “I did, but it’s not anymore valid than the last one and that’s the problem,” he said, then shuffling through page after official page, none of them showing signs of May Parker. “There's practically nothing here. I’ve not found any new phone numbers or emails, and no evidence of government assistance, no employment or unemployment records- In fact, the only other document I’ve been able to locate is a marriage certificate,” he said, drawing that particular image to the top, bringing a second license and a death certificate along with it. “Married Benjamin Parker a little over two years ago and was widowed a few months later. There’s quite a bit of information about him but nothing on May. No social security benefits, no wedding photos, not even a Facebook page,” he added in frustration that quickly melted into disappointment. “It’s just- odd”

After nudging the sandwich back towards his husband, Steve crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged his shoulders. “Some people prefer to keep their lives private,” he suggested, assuming that there were plenty of people out there who weren't interested in flaunting their lives all over social media. Honestly, he never really understood the appeal. Sometimes he felt like nothing was sacred anymore.

Leaning back in his chair, Tony finally picked the sandwich back up and waved a hand towards the images. “Yeah, but this seems a bit extreme,” he said and then abruptly stood up. “We just need to find the kid.”

“Do you think he’s in danger?” Steve asked, suddenly feeling a little on edge.

“I don’t know but I sure as hell want to find out,” Tony said, taking one last bite of the sandwich and then dropping it back down onto the plate. “You coming? School lets out in an hour.”

The pair arrived at the school twenty minutes before dismissal and parked near the front so that they could see students pouring out once the bell rang and as an added measure FRIDAY had been set up to watch the school's surveillance. That way if the kid took off out of a different exit they would know and be able to intercept him. Except even after the majority of the teenagers had long gone, they’d yet to see Peter.

“Do you think he skipped school today?” Steve asked as the clock turned over to half-past three.

“Seems likely I suppose,” Tony replied in resignation and then hammered his fist down into the steering wheel. “And before you ask, no I can’t track him. He’s pulled the tracker out of the suit and I can’t get a GPS location on his phone because it’s a crappy pre-paid device,” he said at the same time Ned came bouncing down the front steps. “That’s it!” Tony said with enthusiasm, already throwing his door open and stepping out before Steve had time to ask what was going on. “That’s the kid’s best friend. You wait here, I’m going to go talk to him.”

Tony rushed down the sidewalk determined to catch the other boy before he had time to run. “Where’s Peter?” he demanded, the moment he’d stepped in front of the teenager, blocking his path. 

Pausing in his tracks, Ned’s mouth hung open for a second or two before answering. “He’s not here. He’s home sick,” he easily lied, he’d been repeating that same phrase all morning. However, unlike his teachers and classmates, Tony Stark didn’t look like he was buying it.

“Cut the crap. I’ve already been to his ‘apartment’ and I know it doesn’t exist,” Tony exclaimed with a roll of his eyes. It was good to know that Peter had such a good friend but at the moment he was more interested in answers than loyalty. “Where is he really?” he asked, looking past the kid, to where Steve had climbed out of the car and was approaching them.

“I-” Ned began but stopped when he heard the heavy footsteps and whipped around to find Steve already within arm's reach. “Oh my god-” he flinched, suddenly feeling extremely boxed in by the two heroes.

“-Easy there, Son,” Steve said, slowly holding his hands up and trying to look as least threatening as possible. He’d tried to make sure that the kid could hear him coming but apparently, that had been the wrong choice. “I wasn’t trying to frighten you. I just came to see what was going on,” he explained but before he could say anything else, his husband was snapping his fingers at the back of the teenager’s head.

“Focus up, Kid. Eyes on me,” Tony said, waiting for the kid's attention to turn back to him. “Where’s Pete?”

Ned looked back and forth between Tony and Steve and swallowed hard. He didn’t know how to answer that question. He had, literally, no idea where Peter had gone once he’d left his house. “I- I don’t know. He didn’t tell me,” he said hoping that the two men would believe him.

“Where’s his aunt?” Tony challenged next but all he received in return was a blank stare as the color visibly drained from the larger boy’s face. That alone made his stomach turn with worry. “Ned. Where can I find his Aunt May?” he pressed, resisting the urge to reach out and shake the teenager by the shoulders.

“We’re just trying to help your pal out,” Steve cut in when Ned continued to blink between them. “We know something isn’t right and we can’t help him if we can’t find him.”

For more than a minute, Ned wrestled with how to answer that question. He could tell the lie that he and Peter had long since established but the men weren’t likely to let it go at that. They would want tangible information that he couldn’t provide on the spot. The other option was, to tell the truth, but with that revelation would come consequences that could turn Peter’s life upside down in the worst possible way. Then looked at Tony’s face and realized that what he thought was a look of anger was actually one of fear and worry. Shifting his gaze to Steve he could see that he too was concerned, though his features were far softer. They weren’t asking him about Spider-man, they were asking him about Peter because they wanted to help him. They were scared for him. It made him wonder if telling them the truth would really be so bad. 

Ned chewed on his lip for half a second longer as thought about how his friend would feel about him going behind his back and spilling all of his secrets. He could clearly picture Peter’s face burning with anger and could imagine all of the awful things that he would say but neither of those things seemed to be quelling the nagging in the back of his head that was assuring him that telling the Stark-Rogers’ everything was the right thing to do. “There is no Aunt May,” he finally disclosed, feeling oddly relieved by the admission.

“What did you just say?” both Tony and Steve said at once, neither of them quite believing what they had just heard.

Ned swallowed heard and ducked his head so that he couldn't see the men’s reactions as he spoke. We made her up after Peter’s parents died so that he didn’t have to go into foster care. He wanted to keep coming to school here and didn’t want to stop, you know, doing his other thing, and since he didn’t actually have a next of kin, we made one up,” he explained, recognizing for the first time how ludicrous that sounded.

While Steve took a step back and frowned, Tony took a step forward, leaning down slightly to force eye-contact. “Let me get this straight, you and the wonder boy just- made up an entire person?” he incredulously inquired because they were in high school and what he was claiming they had done was something that the vast majority of adults would struggle to accomplish.

“It wasn’t really that hard. All I had to do was-” Ned began.

“-Break into some government servers and manipulate records?” Tony finished with an inquisitive quirk of his brow. Despite the severity of the situation, he was slightly impressed. “Kid- that’s not something that normal people can just do. You know that, right?”

“Am I in trouble?” Ned asked hesitantly in reply.

Tony squared his jaw and narrowed his eyes. “That heavily depends on your next few answers,” he casually stated. “How can we find Pete? Where does he go during the day?” 

“And where does he sleep at night?” Steve interposed, having been considering that question during the majority of the previous conversation. 

Still feeling a little shaken and unsure of his decisions, Ned, took a breath and pointed down the road. “He, uh, he hangs out near Delmar’s shop a lot. Sometimes they give him money for doing chores and stuff and he, well, he hardly ever sleeps in the same place two nights in a row. There are a lot of shelters and-” he began to explain, flinching slightly the engineer threw his hands up without warning.

“-Shelters? The kid’s been sleeping in shelters and we didn’t know that?” Tony shouted to no one in particular. 

“To be fair, no one really knows that but me and you can’t tell anyone!” Ned shot back all in one breath. “They’ll take him away and-”

“-and what? Make sure he eats and has an actual bed to sleep in?” Tony queried, his voice seeping with self-loathing. “Christ, I should have known better. How the hell did I miss all of that?”

Steve stepped behind his husband and wrapped his arms around his body in an attempt to soothe him. “It’s not your fault, Tony. He lied to us,” he said, pressing his nose into the man’s hair as he tried to assuage his own feelings of remorse. Even though Peter had gone to great lengths to hide his situation, it was hard to accept that neither of them had suspected that anything was wrong from the get-go.

After a while, the lingering students had cleared the area and all that could be heard was the hum of the passing traffic and the occasional beeping of a horn but there were no words. All of them seemed content to stand around and allow everything to sink in. “What are you going to do?” Ned asked, thus breaking the silence. “And seriously- how much trouble am I going to be in? Oh my god, am I going to jail!” 

“I can promise you that no one is going to jail, Kid, and like I said, we just want to help,” Steve said, letting go of Tony in favor of patting the larger boy on the shoulder. “We’ll take care of everything. Everything’s going to be fine, right, Tony?”

“Yeah, everything’s going to be just peachy,” Tony mumbled before holding his hand out towards Ned. “Give me your phone, Kid,” he demanded and then rapidly entered his contact information before handing it back. “I want you to call me the second you see him, got it?” 

Ned vigorously nodded his head and clutched his phone to his chest. “Yes, sir. I’ve got it,” he said, watching as Steve gave him one last cautious smile before following his husband to the car. 

For the remainder of the afternoon and well into the evening Tony and Steve searched Queens in search of Peter’s whereabouts. They stopped at Delmar’s, the local arcade, and several other shops before checking in with every shelter FRIDAY pointed them towards. No one they spoke with had any useful information at all. Apparently, the kid had backstories to cover his backstories and it was all so elaborate and consistent that not one person had even the smallest inkling of what was really going on. It was both impressive and infuriating but more than anything it was disheartening. They’d really hoped to find the boy before he’d had to spend another night alone on the streets. 

Several days passed before Ned saw Peter and again. It was nearing midnight on Friday when a knock came at his window and he jumped up to throw it open so that his friend could climb through. His fingers hovered over Tony’s contact icon on his phone for only a second before he decided that the call could wait. Peter looked a little worse for wear and making sure he was okay took precedence over anything else at the moment. 

Only after he’d thoroughly convinced his friend that his parents would definitely sleep through him using the shower in the hall bathroom and had carried an abundance of snacks to his bedroom, did Ned decide it was time to bite the bullet and mention his run-in with the Stark-Rogers’. He went into great detail explaining everything that had happened, treading carefully as he did so. He was somewhat thankful when Peter began to pace and snarl rather than dart out through the still slightly ajar window.

“Why would you tell them that, Ned!” Peter strained, his hands tugging harshly at his hair as fear and anxiety flowed through his body like bubbling liquid. His entire existence was crumbling and the one person he’d always been able to count on to help him keep it all together had betrayed him. “I trusted you!”

“They said they want to help you!” Ned shot back, glancing towards his door, half expecting the hall lights to flip on. 

“Help me what? Help me get shipped off to some group home?” Peter shot back, but at a slightly lower volume. “And what about you? They know that you hacked into a bunch of government websites and that’s probably a federal offense or something,” he added hoping to prove a point by projecting some of the same apprehension he was feeling onto his friend.

“Mr. Captain America promised that no one would go to jail,” Ned replied, unsure of who he was reassuring. There was still a small part of him that was worried about what kind of trouble he would get into once everything came to light.

“Yeah, well did he also promise that no one would be sent to live with perfect strangers somewhere in Albany?” Peter bit back with a glare. He was relieved to hear that his friend wasn't going to be in any legal trouble because of him but that one small grace didn’t do much to ease his distress.

Ned closed his eyes and took in a slow breath. He was having a hard time believing that the Stark-Rogers would allow Peter to be sent anywhere outside of New York City. He’d only spoken with the two men for ten minutes but even in that short of an amount of time, it was easy to tell that they were more than just a little invested. “Dude, they’re like, really worried about you,” he said rather than trying to answer the question directly. “I think you should talk to them.”

“And if they try to call child services?” Peter pressed as he continued to aggressively stride back and forth across the carpet. “Then what happens?”

“Then we’ll figure it out,” Ned promised, though he was pretty sure that he and Peter have very different ideas about what ‘figuring it out’ would look like. While his friend remained determined to perpetuate the lies they had created, while he was beginning to question the integrity and sustainability of their original plan. Now that he was really looking, he could see the way Peter’s physical appearance had been subtly deteriorating over the last several months, and, at that point, all he wanted was for him to be somewhere safe.

“How did we even get to this?” Peter pathetically queried and then growled in renewed aggravation. “Why couldn’t you have just trusted me!”

With those words, Ned finally lost it. All sympathetic thoughts left him and he felt himself boiling over. “I’ve been trusting you, Peter! I think it’s time for you to trust me for once!” he shouted as loudly as he could without waking the household. “All I’m asking you to do is to give them a chance!”

Feeling overly exhausted and completely beaten, Peter slowly lowered himself to the ground and slumped up against the wall. The anger he’d been feeling had finally fizzled out, leaving nothing but unadulterated trepidation in its absence. “Fine,” he defeatedly stated. “I’ll talk to them but- but if this all blows up-”

“-It won’t!” Ned, hurriedly assured and then picked up his phone before his friend could change his mind. “I’m going to text Mr. Stark and tell him that we’ll meet him tomorrow morning in front of the Queens Zoo. That way there’ll be lots of people around and you can get away if you need to. Is that cool?” he asked and when he received a nod of consent, he sent the information. Confirmation came quickly and he sighed in relief. “You should sleep here.”

“But your parents-” Peter weakly argued.

“-Are getting up really early to drive to a conference,” Ned provided without hesitation. His parents were set to be on the road before the sun came up. Even if one of them decided to stick their head in the room to tell him that they were leaving, it would still be dark and he figured that the chances of them noticing that there was someone in the top bunk were slim. “Even if they notice that you’re here, which I don’t think they will, they’re not likely to ask about it until later.” 

“They think I’m at home sick,” Peter sighed out, already eyeing the warm blankets and soft mattresses that were being offered to him. He’d been sleeping on park benches for a handful of hours at a time ever since one of the shelters he frequented had mentioned that someone was looking for him.

“It’ll be fine,” Ned said, pulling Peter’s pajama bottoms out from where they stayed stashed in the closet and a clean t-shirt out of his dresser drawer. “You can sleep and in the morning we’ll eat some breakfast, wash your clothes and then head out to the zoo. We can figure everything else out after you talk to the Stark-Rogers’. Just- Just trust me.”

“Yeah, alright,” Peter tiredly sighed as he shimmied out of his stiff jeans, slid the slightly too large flannel sleep-pants onto his hips, and swapped his shirt. “I’m just really tired,” he uttered and he wasn’t sure if he meant physically, mentally or a strange combination of the two but Ned, as always, seemed to understand, offering him a knowing smile, and a soft pat to the shoulder as he stood up to climb the ladder leading to the top bunk.

“I know, Peter. I know,” Ned acknowledged and then picked up his phone to set an alarm that would allow them the time to use the washer and dryer before meeting up with Tony and Steve. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **So. This chapter answered a lot of the big questions and Peter seems fairly conflicted by the turn of events. How do you think the meeting at the park is going to go?**


End file.
